he  Iowa  Band 


//.  Jj  .'O'L. 


<%P  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  *$ 


Purchased    by   the    Hamill    Missionary   Fund. 


Divis 
Sectit  n       \ 


„,„  BX7I4-8' 


THE    IOWA    BAND 


New   and   Revised   Edition 


BY 


REV.  EPHRAIM  ADAMS.  U.D. 


BOSTON 

Uhc  flMlorim  press 

CHICAGO 


LINOTYPED    AND    PRINTED    BY    J.    J.    ARAKELYAN 
295   CONGRESS    STREET,    BOSTON. 


DEDICATION   TO   FIRST  EDITION 


To  the  Rev.  Asa  Turner, 
Deab  Brother  : 

It  was  in  November,  1843,  that  you  welcomed  to  your  home, 
your  people,  and  the  West,  the  brethren  since  known  as  The 
Iowa  Band.  At  that  time,  as  composing  the  ordained  ministry 
of  our  denomination  in  the  then  Territory  of  Iowa,  there  were 
with  you  six  others ;  to  wit,  Julius  A.  Reed,  Reuben  Gaylord, 
Charles  Burnham,  Allen  B.  Hitchcock,  Oliver  Emerson, 
and  John  C.  Holbrook.  From  these,  too,  came  a  cordial  wel- 
come. 

This  was  twenty-five  years  ago ;  bringing  us,  and  our  mis- 
sion work  here,  to  the  Silver  Wedding  time.  It  is  usual,  on 
such  occasions,  in  the  presence  of  friends  whose  sympathies 
make  the  joys  common  to  all,  to  revive  the  history  of  the  par- 
ties, and  reminiscences  of  the  past. 

In  this  little  book,  as  a  Home  Missionary  offering  in  honor 
of  that  noble  Society  which  we  all  love,  there  is  given,  first,  a 
brief  history  of  the  Band,  followed  by  a  few  facts  and  scenes 
from  out  our  common  efforts;  with  such  reflections,  in  passing, 
as  by  a  review  of  quarter-century  labors,  are  naturally  sug- 
gested :  all  of  which,  with  due  thanks  to  the  Master,  you  will 
permit,  as  one  of  the  first  Congregational  Ministers  of  Iowa, 
and  one  whom  we  all  love  to  call  Father  Turner,  to  be  to  you 
dedicated. 

One  of  the  Band. 

1868 


INTRODUCTION    TO    FIRST    EDITION 

BY 

REV.    WILLIAM    BARROWS.    D.D. 


IF  any  one  ever  doubted  the  utility  and  success  oi 
home  missions,  let  him  read  this  volume.  If  any 
one  ever  doubted  whether  his  contributions  to  this 
cause  were  wisely  made  and  expended,  let  him  study 
this  simple  narrative  of  Christian  labors  in  a  new  ter- 
ritory and  state. 

Prior  to  July  4,  1838,  the  region  covered  by  this 
work  was  Wisconsin  Territory ;  then  it  became  Iowa 
Territory,  and,  when  the  Band  entered  it  in  1843,  the 
settled  portion  of  it  was  a  belt  of  land  on  the  west 
bank  of  the  Mississippi,  two  hundred  miles  long  and 
forty  wide,  with  a  population  of  something  over  fifty 
thousand.  The  country  was  then  divided  between 
the  hardy  pioneer,  the  Indian  and  the  buffalo.  There 
were  fifteen  Congregational  churches.  The  college, 
the  academy,  had  not  gone  over  the  great  river ; 
hardly  the  common  school  and  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath. It  was  a  noble  sight — an  act  of  quiet,  beauti- 
ful heroism  rarely  witnessed — to  see  these  eleven 
men  enter  in  to  do  their  part  in  building  a  Christian 


vi  INTRODUCTION 

state,  and  dedicating  the  latent  and  developing  en- 
ergies there  to  Christ  and  the  Church. 

It  was  hard,  unseen,  unappreciated  labor.  The 
very  word  I  <  <\\  a  was  yet  a  strange  one  to  Kastern  lips 
and  ears,  and  was  slowly  taking  its  place  in  our  text- 
books and  schoolrooms.  The  men  were  hidden  from 
us  in  the  dim,  hazy  distance,  under  frontier  shadows. 
Bridle-paths,  ugly  fords,  and  monthly  mails  led  to 
their  work-fields,  but  the  Master  knew  each  of  their 
cabins,  heard  every  prayer  and  hymn  in  their  creek 
and  prairie  homes,  and  owned  all  their  great  work. 
What  though  men  did  not  see  their  rough  founda- 
tions for  Church  and  State!  we  see  now  what  is  built 
on  them.  In  a  sublime  unconsciousness  of  their  ob- 
scurity, they  lost  themselves  in  their  work.  So  noble 
granite  blocks  disappear  in  the  deep  waters,  that 
there  may  be  piers  and  wharves  for  queenly  ships  and 
the  merchandise  of  all  climes. 

This  volume  would  not  be  complete  without  its 
picture  of  the  rude  log-cabin  church  where  they  were 
Ordained,  and  laid  their  plans,  and  whence  they 
moved  off  in  their  different  and  chosen  paths.  It 
was  a  solid,  one-story  building,  originally  twenty-four 
feet  by  twenty.  Built  in  1837,  when  there  was  no 
sawmill  in  the  region,  its  rough  logs  were  dressed 
down  by  the  axe  of  the  pioneer,  split  shingles  cov 
ercd  the  roof,  and  oaken  puncheons  made  the  floor 
and  the  scats — the  pews!  Afterward,  but  before  the 
ordination  in   1843,  an  addition  of  sixteen  feet  was 


INTRODUCTJOX  vii 

made  to  one  end.  This  was  the  first  Congregational 
meeting-house  in  Iowa;  and  here  noble  and  good 
Father  Turner  was  for  so  long  a  time  "the  voiee  of 
one  crying  in  the  wilderness,  Prepare  ye  the  way  of 
the  Lord!"  The  benediction  of  his  face  is  the  fitting 
prelude  and  preface  to  this  volume.  How  often  his 
deaf  old  father  spoke  to  us  reverently  and  affection- 
ately of  the  work  "Asa"  was  doing  in  the  "Great 
West !"  While,  in  our  college  vacations,  we  were 
mowing  for  the  old  gentleman  where  there  were  two 
rocks  to  one  grass,  "Asa"  was  planting  the  "handful 
of  corn."  Xow  the  fruit  thereof  shakes  like  Lebanon, 
and  the  hundreds  of  cities  of  Iowa  flourish  like  the 
grass  of  their  native  prairies. 

This  same  log  church,  moreover,  was  the  first 
academy  building  in  Iowa.  Here  Denmark  Acad- 
emy had  its  humble  yet  noble  beginnings  in  the  Feb- 
ruary preceding  the  ordination.  A  view  of  its  present 
beautiful  edifice  graces  this  volume. 

Here,  too,  Iowa  College  was  first  talked  over, 
prayed  over,  and  then  projected.  It  was  one  of  the 
first  joys  and  fruits  for  the  Band,  at  one  of  their  first 
meetings  in  Denmark,  to  consider  plans  for  founding 
the  first  college  in  Iowa.  Midway  in  these  sketehes, 
the  buildings  now  lift  themselves  to  onr  view  from 
their  interior  and  glorious  prairie  home.  How  much 
of  heroic  history  and  august  prophecy  in  that  pic- 
ture ! 

In   days   to   come,    Denmark,   Iowa,   will  be   as   a 


viii  INTRODUCTION 

shrine  for  Congregational  pilgrims;  and,  five  centuries 
hence,  how  much  would  be  given  for  one  log  from 
that  old  church!  The  place  was  settled  originally  by 
immigrants  from  .Massachusetts  and  New  Hamp- 
shire. Of  course,  true  to  New  England  character 
and  habit,  they  would  at  once  start  a  church  and  a 
school.  New  Englanders  come  honestly  by  such  a 
tendency.  When  John  Winthrop,  the  first  governor 
of  Massachusetts,  was  seeking  a  new  home  in  Eng- 
land, long  prior  to  his  coming  to  America,  he  wrote 
to  his  son.  acting  as  his  agent.  "1  would  be  near 
church  and  some  good  school."  May  that  aspiration, 
so  long  hereditary,  never  die  out  among  the  descend- 
ants of  the  Pilgrims  and  Puritans!  That  sentiment 
of  \\  uithrop  is  the  larger  and  better  part  of  our  na- 
tional history,  compressed  into  a  sentence. 

Iowa  how  has  her  more  than  two  hundred  Congre- 
gational churches,  the  common-school  system,  highly 
perfected  from  the  Eastern  model,  with  a  noble  array 
of  high  schools,  academies  and  colleges.  It  is  a 
record  of  honor,  and  eminently  fitting  it  is  that  tin-'' 
labors  and  fruits  of  twenty-five  years  should  go  into 
written  history.  This  is  the  Congregational  chapter. 
Noble  coworkers  have  material  they  may  well  re- 
joice in  for  other  most  worthy  chapters. 

Tt  should  be  here  said  that  these  sketches  have 
been  modestly  held  back  and  reluctantly  given  by 
men  who  preferred  rather  to  do  work'  than  tell  of  it. 

I'.ut  we  remember  how  Iowa  looked  before  the  Band 


INTRODUCTION  ix 

saw  it, — when  Keokuk  was  a  village  of  twelve  log 
and  two  frame  houses  ;  when  Burlington  showed  the 
green  stumps  in  its  main  streets;  when  Davenport 
was  barely  the  superior  rival  of  Rockingham;  and 
buffalo,  deer  and  Indians  divided  among  themselves 
the  waters  of  the  Des  Moines,  Cedar  and  Wapsipini- 
con.  We  have  watched  the  magic  change  and 
studied  it  in  frequent  revisits,  and  it  seems  but  due  to 
Ciod  to  tell  how  he  has  made  the  wilderness  a  fruitful 
field. 

A  Christian  state  has  been  founded.  Let  skeptics 
study  the  work,  who  think  we  have  no  longer  need 
for  the  Christian  religion.  The  Church  of  Christ  has 
lengthened  her  cords  and  strengthened  her  stakes. 
Let  the  supporters  of  home  missions  behold,  and 
thank  God,  and  so  draw  dividends  on  their  charity 
investments  and  take  new  stock  in  new  states  be- 
yond. The  Congregational  Church  has  gone  into  a 
new  territory,  and  become  energetic,  thrifty  and  mul- 
titudinous. Let  those  make  note  of  it  who  think 
Congregationalism  will  not  work  well  out  of  New 
England,  is  not  adapted  to  a  new  country  and  mixed 
communities.  As  if  sacred  Republicanism  cannot  go 
hand  in  hand  across  the  continent  with  secular  Re- 
publicanism, and  men  manage  their  own  affairs,  by 
popular  suffrage  in  a  church,  as  well  as  in  a  town, 
city  or  state !  Congregational  funds  have  had  de- 
nominational investment  in  Towa.  Let  results  so 
epiinentlv  satisfactory   confirm   our   churches   in   the 


\  INTRODUCTION 

wisdom  of  such  investments.  Another  step  of  divine 
Providence  is  taken  westward  in  fulfilling  the  proph- 
ecy, "He  shall  have  dominion  from  sea  to  sea,"  from 
the  .Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  Another  Christian  state 
is  added  to  the  frontier,  looking  towards  the  great 
sea.  The  base-line  of  the  army  of  occupation  for 
Christ  is  moved  so  much  farther  towards  the  prophe- 
sied boundary.  What  new  Hands  will  now  go  out 
to  the  front,  and  picket  the  advancing  army?  By 
and  by  they  will  meet  those  coming  up  the  Pacific 
slope  ;  then  will  the  watchmen  see  eye  to  eye.  and  re- 
joice together;  then  will  glory  dwell  in  the  'land. 

Reading,  Mass..  May.  1870. 


THE  AUTHOR'S   PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND 
EDITION 


It  is  with  no  little  hesitation  that  it.  is  presented.  It  lias 
seemed  in  its  preparation  somewhat  like  repeating  a  story  once 
told,  or  telling  it  where  there  is  hut  little  interest  to  hear.  And 
yet  the  venture  is  made.  Courage  for  it  has  come  partly  be- 
cause of  pleasing  evidence  that  the  first  edition  was  not  with- 
out its  use,  partly  that  inquiries  for  what  has  long  since  been 
out  of  print  are  still  made,  but  mainly  from  the  judgment  of 
friends  that  a  second  edition  would  find  circulation  and  do 
good.  As  will  be  seen,  it  is  but  a  reprint  of  the  first,  with 
few  exceptions.  The  names  of  persons  and  places  referred  to 
in  the  first  by  initials  and  blanks  are  here  given,  the  reason  for 
withholding  them  no  longer  existing.  The  notes  in  passing,  a 
few  chapters  acjded  to  bring  matters  down  to  the  present  time, 
and  a  brief  appendix  may  add  interest  to,  while  enlarging  the 
view  of  events  referred  to.  As  to  the  object  in  view,  it  is  still 
the  same,  to  pay  a  tribute  to  Home  Missions.  If  it  will  serve 
to  imbed  more  deeply  the  noble  work  of  Home  Missions  in  the 
hearts  of  the  churches,  the  hopes  of  the  author  will  be  re- 
alized. 

EPHRAIM  ADAMS. 


INTRODUCTION    TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION 


BY 


REV.  JAMES  L.  HILL,  D.D. 


The  Iowa  Band  has  supplied  for  the  country  the  ro- 
mance of  home  missions.  The  frequency  of  references 
to  it  in  Associations  and  National  Councils  and  in  the 
religious  papers  justifies  this  opinion.  It  is  a  tale  of 
border  life.  Men  are  so  made  that  they  reverence  a 
bold  venture  when  accompanied  by  a  sense  of  duty. 
The  fine  stories  of  the  world  are  made  up  of  heroisms. 
What  contagious  warmth  of  feeling  used  to  pervade 
the  meeting  of  the  General  Association  of  Iowa  at  the 
moment  when  these  members  of  the  Iowa  Band, 
Fathers  in  Israel,  doughty  pioneers,  stood  together 
about  the  pulpit  and  sang,  "My  days  are  gliding  swift- 
ly by"!  '        "  S 

These  men  were  superlatively  fortunate  in  the  choice 
they  made  of  location.  It  is  probably  true  that  Iowa, 
lying  between  her  great  rivers,  is  the  most  productive 
solid  area  of  ground  anywhere  to  be  found.  The 
name  means  This-is-the-Land.  "It  is  the  most  mag- 
nificent dwelling-place  prepared  by  God  for  man's 
abode,"  says  DeTocqueville  in  speaking  of  this  gar- 
den, of  which    Iowa  is  perhaps  the  choicest   portion. 

xiii 


xiv  I.\  PRODUCTION 

People  \\li<>  have  seen  the  state  only  during  the  lasl 
twent)  years  can  scarcely  imagine  the  indescribable 
beaut)  of  the  prairies  before  the)  were  settled.  It  was 
the  state  of  the  wild  rose.  The  grass  grew  thick  and 
strong  and  high.  Myriads  of  prairie  flowers  dotted 
the  unbroken  expanse.  Some  came  early  and  others 
remained  until  the  frost-  killed  the  most  beautiful  of 
all,  the  aster  and  the  gi  >ldenr<  >d. 

More    fortunate    still,  these   men   believed    m   the 

power  of  "together."        They   remind  one  of  the    I'd 
grims  at  Plymouth  in  their  cooperative  work.   "When 
had  men  combine,"  said  Burke,  "good  men  must  asso- 
ciate." 

The  emphasis  is  not  only  upon  the  word  Iowa,  but 
fully  as  much  upon  the  designation  Band.  They  were 
allied  in  their  work.  They  wire  "association  men."' 
This  disposition  to  be  united  in  their  labor  and  to  co 
i  iperate  fully  with  i  others  on  the  field,  made  them  more 
effective  in  fostering  the  churches  and  at  length  in  the 
joint  work  of  founding  a  college.  School  instructors, 
a  great  portion  of  whom  were  ladies,  multiplied  until 
Iowa  employed  more  teachers  than  any  state  in  the 
Union,  with  the  single  exception  of  New  York  and 
that  on  account  of  her  great  city.  The  highest  inci 
dental  service  and  an  enduring  imprint  on  the  terri- 
tory  designed   to   become   so  distinguished,    sprang 

from  the  fact  that  they  were  educated  men.  They  had 
tlie  classical  spirit  and  came  forth  from  college  halls. 
During  their  da)   the  tide  turned  irresistibly  toward 


INTRODUCTION  xv 

education.  The  result  is  compressed  in  the  statemenl 
of  "A  church  on  every  hilltop  and  a  schoolhouse  in 
every  valley."  Iowa  came  to  have  the  least  illiteracy 
of  any  state  in  the  Union.  She  has  employed  more 
teachers  than  states  that  have  two  or  three  times  her 
population.  She  was  contrasted  even  with  Massachu- 
setts by  Gov.  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  showing  that  Towa 
had.  in  the  comparison,  less  illiteracy.  Iowa  has  more 
hanks  than  any  state  in  the  Union.  In  the  dozen 
North  Central  States  Iowa's  estimated  wealth  exceeds 
all  except  Illinois  and  (  >hio,  and  that  on  account  of 
their  great  cities.  The  statistician  Mulhall  was  forced 
to  exclaim,  "This  is  a  prodigious  growth  of  wealth,  and 
without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  human  race." 
How  strange  have  seemed  the  statements  which  she 
has  published  when  she  has  been  without  a  debt ! 

Her  fine,  great  soldiers'  monument  near  the  capitol 
shows  her  pride  in  the  patriotism  and  devotion  of  her 
sons.  She  furnished  more  than  her  quota  of  soldiers 
in  the  Civil  War,  and  when  one  man  enlisting  for  three 
years  was  made  the  equivalent  of  three  men  enlisting 
for  one  year,  the  draft  was  abrogated.  Now  there  is 
no  such  a  thing  as  an  accident ;  there  is  a  cause  for 
everything,  if  we  can  find  it.  From  some  source  this 
prairie  state  on  the  sunset  side  of  the  Mississippi  re- 
ceived just  the  right  initiative  at  just  the  right  junc- 
ture. The  times  served  the  men,  and  the  men  met 
their  opportunity.  Such  a  field  can  never  be  again 
presented  between  these  seas.     What  a  bundle  of  his- 


xvi  INTRODUCTION 

tor)  this  Band  binds  up!  ["he  religious  pioneers  in 
Iowa  were  remarkable  men.  They  were  raised  up  by 
Providence  for  a  definite  and  important  and  immortal 
purpose.  They  were  decided  [actors  in  its  achieve 
ment.  "It  is  not  too  much  to  say,"  writes  Dr.  Dun- 
ning, in  [894,  "thai  their  a  »mbined  influence  has  given 
character  nut  only  to  the  denomination  in  the  state  but 
to  the  state  itself.'*  I  >r.  R<  ibbins  acted  as  president  of 
a  hoard  of  college  trustees  for  seventeen  years.  Dr. 
I  ,ane,  a  good  preacher,  was  by  preeminent  gifts  also  a 
teacher,  and  did  not  neglect  his  talent.  The  two  sur- 
vivors. Drs.  Adams  and  Salter,  "venerable  men  who 
have  come  down  to  US  from  a  former  generation,"  are 
both  writers  of  history.  The  men  of  the  Band  made 
tlie  impression  of  gentlemen.  They  were  cultivated 
and  mild  and  genial.  They  had  nothing,  not  one  of 
them,  of  that  loudness  which  is  sometimes  associated 
with  life  on  a  western  frontier.  They  were  quiel  in 
speech  and  demeanor.  They  were  well  horn.  They 
came  ont  of  the  choicest  families  in  the  East.  They 
shut  behind  them  all  doors  opening  either  toward  ease 
or  a  competency  when  they  uncomplainingly  began 
their  work  on  a  salary  of  $400  a  year. 

In  counting  over  the  Iowa  Band  he  careful,  reader, 
not  to  omit  to  notice  the  part  taken  in  their  noble, 
self-denying  work  by  the  pioneer  prairie  women  who, 
having  been  delicately  reared  and  carefully  educated 
in  the  East,  accompanied  their  husbands  of  the  Band 
to  their  outposts.     Their  names  are  all   written  in   a 


INTRODUCTION  xvii 

book  of  remembrance,  which  is  the  Book  of  Life. 
When  thinking  of  home  missions  one  must  think,  too, 
of  the  missionaries  of  the  home.  In  the  crude,  early 
days  these  homes  were  representatives  of  all  the 
amenities  of  life.  In  the  family,  no  matter  how  frugal 
the  meal,  all  waited  until  all  were  ready  to  approach 
the  table.  The  Band  stood  for  the  home  idea.  Work- 
ing with  others,  they  sought  by  direct  influence  to  in- 
duce the  governor  of  the  state  to  introduce  into  the 
far  West  the  New  England  observance  of  Thanksgiv- 
ing Day  which  became,  in  time,  a  Home  Festival. 
Here  is  life  on  the  frontier,  but  it  never  lost  its  dignity 
and  refinement  and  delicacy.  Let  this  be  said  to  the 
praise  of  the  moral  priestesses  as  well  as  to  the  credit 
of  college  men.  These  are  the  forces  that  cast  up  a 
highway  for  our  God  through  the  wilderness.  In  the 
light  of  results  we  see  their  life  only  now  on  its  sunny 
side,  but  the  small  economies  of  the  home  doubtless 
in  earliest  days  sometimes  suggested  "the  shady  side." 
As  the  number  of  these  men  and  women  diminishes, 
our  honor  of  them  is  carried  up  into  veneration.  The 
two  men  that  are  left  are  looking  at  life's  work  in  the 
light  of  the  setting  sun.  And  have  they  not  high 
honor?  It  is  they  who  lose  their  life  that  find  it.  "It 
is  probable  that  no  equal  number  of  young  ministers, 
leaving  a  theological  seminary  together,  ever  founded 
so  many  churches  in  five  or  ten  years  after  their 
graduation  as  these  men"  whose  aggregated  years  of 
service  have  amounted  now  to  over  half  a  thousand. 


wiii  INTRODUCTION 

The}  accomplished  more  than  they  could  have  done 
had  they  remained  in  the  Easl  or  lia<l  they  been  more 
widely  scattered.  They  did  more  than  two  or  three 
times  a>  many  could  now  do  in  thai  or  in  any  other 
state  of  the  West.  Such  toils,  sacrifices  and  heroisms 
as  are  here  suggested  have  undoubtedly  given  to  this 
noticeably  well  governed  commonwealth  her  peculiar 
state  pride  which  is  equalled  by  bul  one.  at  the  utmosl 
by  but  two,  other  component  parts  of  our  Union. 

If  it  is  meet  to  lay  the  laurel  upon  the  veteran's 
grave,  should  that  of  the  old  pioneer  minister  be  for- 
gotten? Was  he  not  a  patriot  too?  'The  statutes  in 
Iowa  provide  that  our  country's  flag  shall  floal  over 
her  schoolhouses  and  that  her  children  shall  be  taught 
to  sing  a  state  song  set  to  a  popular  tune  which  is 
calculated  to  kindle  their  state  patriotism. 

"From  yonder  Mississippi's  stream 
To  where  Missouri's  waters  gleam, 

O  fair  it  is  as  poet's  dream. — 
[owa,   in   Iowa. 

'*Go  read  the  story  of  thy  past, 
Iowa.  O  Iowa, 

What  glorious  deeds,   what   fame  thou   hast, 
Iowa,   O   Iowa. 

"So  long  as  time's  greal  cycle  runs. 

Or   nations    wee])   their   fallen    ones, 
Thou  'It  not  forget  thy  patriot  sons. 

[owa,  < )  Iowa  " 

Salem,  Mass. 


CONTENTS 

I'M, I 

Dedication  to  First  Edition           iii 

Introduction  to  First  Edition v 

The  Author's  Preface  to  the  Second  Edition        .        .  xi 

[ntkoduction    to   the    Second    Edition     ....  xiii 

CHAPTER  I 
Germ-Thought ^ 

CHAPTER  II 
A    Suggestion 5 

CHAPTER  III 
The   Prayer-Meeting 10 

CHAPTER  IV 
The  Band  Formed  and  Plans  Matured    ....        13 

CHAPTER  V 
The    Journey 18 

CHAPTER  VI 
Ordination   and   Dispersion 27 

CHAPTER  VII 
Getting  to  Work  and  Coalescing 32 

CHAPTER  VIII 
A    Diary ....       39 

CHAPTER  IX 
Then  and  Now 52 

CHAPTER  X 
The  Workers 64 


w  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XI 

Results 74 

CHAPTER  XII 

The  Iowa  Association 85 

CHAPTER  XIII 

The  Iowa   ASSOCIATION.     WHAT   IS   IT  Now?       •         •         •        97 

CHAPTER  XIV 
[owa  College 103 

CHAPTER  XV 
College  History  Continued.     Its  Grinnell  Period  115 

CHAPTER  XV] 
A  Rake  Chapter,  and  Short 126 

CHAPTER  XVII 

Fragments  133 

CHAPTER    XVII] 
Loss  and  Gain [66 

CHAPTER     XIX 
In   Memoriam 1 7""' 

CHAPTER  XX 
In  Memoriam,  Continued  from    1870  ro  1902  190 

CHAPTER    XXI 

Outlook  and  Conclusion 204 

CHAPTER    XXII 

Eventide 213 

Appendix]  -  225 

M  \r  of  Iowa 234 

Addenda        ..........      235 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Page 

Members  of  the  Iowa  Band  .        .        .        Frontispiece 

Church  of  Ordination  and  Denmark  Academy,  [843          .  27 

Edwards  Congregational  Church,  Davenport      ...  74 

First  Church,  Decorah,  1895 76 

Plymouth  Congregational  Church,  Des  Moines     ...  80 

Presidents  of  Iowa  College : 

George  Frederick  Magoun,  George  A.  Gates       .     103 

Iowa  College  Pioneer  Helpers : 

Preserved  Wood  Carter,  Prof.  Erastus  Rip- 
ley, Prof.  Leonard  Fletcher  Parker,  Josiah 
Bushnell    Grinnell 10S 

Beginnings  of  Iowa  College 112 

Iowa  College  Buildings 115 

Congregational  Church,  Grinnell 120 

Pioneers  before  the  Band  : 

Julius  A.  Reed,  A.  B.  Hitchcock,  John  C. 
Holbrook,  Reuben  Gaylord,  Father  Asa 
Turner,  Oliver  Emerson 190 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  Ephraim  Adams 213 


THE  IOWA  BAND 


CHAPTER  I 

GERM-THOUGHT 

IT  was  a  beautiful  evening-  in  the  summer  of  1S42, 
when  the  students  of  Andover  Seminary  as- 
sembled in  the  chapel,  to  be  led  as  usual  in  their 
evening  devotions  by  one  of  the  venerable  professors 
of  those  days.  Among  them  sat  one,  pale  and 
emaciated  by  continued  illness, — one  of  whom  friends 
began  to  whisper,  "Unless  relieved  soon,  we  fear  he 
will  never  be  well,  even  if  he  lives."  They  might, 
perhaps,  have  spared  a  portion  of  their  anxiety,  had 
they  known  better  the  nature  of  his  disease,  it  being 
what  may  be  called  the  student's  enemy,  dyspepsia, 
and  that  not  of  a  chronic  form. 

Our  friend  was  in  the  middle  year:  a  year  when 
theological  subjects,  the  great  doctrines  of  salvation, 
are  studied;  a  year  that  has  more  influence,  probably, 
in  shaping  the  minister,  than  any  other  of  his  semi- 
nary course;  a  year  in  which,  if  ever,  the  student's 


,  nil:    IOWA    BAND 

heart  kindles  with  desire  to  preach  the  great  truths  of 
the  Bible  to  his  fellow  men.  He  had  entered  the 
chapel  that  evening  under  the  combined  influence  of 

his  studies  and  his  disease.  He  longed  for  the  time 
when  he  should  be  a  preacher;  but  tlier,.  could  he  be 
one?  Even  the  duties  of  the  seminary  were  a  burden 
almost  too  heavy  to  be  borne.  Could  lie.  then,  gi 
forth  to  write  two  sermons  a  week,  attend  funerals, 
weddings,  prepare  lectures,  perform  pastoral  labor, 
and  all  the  et  cetera  of  a  parish  minister's  life?  Im- 
possible! Sedentary  habits  had  already  induced  a 
disease,  which,  if  unchecked,  would  cripple  his  en- 
ergies, while  shortening  his  days.  A  minister's  life 
was  likely  to  aggravate  rather  than  check  it.  What 
should  he  do?  Must  he  abandon  his  long-cherished 
plan,  or  should  he  press  on  and  give  himself  an  early 
sacrifice  to  it? 

Just  then  there  came  to  his  mind  the  thought  that 
there  was  a  field  where  the  necessary  labors  of  a  min- 
ister would  probably  counteract,  rather  than  foster, 
his  disease:  and  that  field  the  West.  With  this  came 
a  rush  of  other  thoughts,  of  things  that  he  had  heard 
and  read  about  the  West.  Tt  would  be  self-denial  to 
go;  but  then,  in  self-denial  there  would  come 
strength  of  character,  with  the  gain  of  a  more  con- 
scious consecration  to  God.  Then  there  was  the 
probable  influence  of  his  going  upon  fellow  students, 
friends,  Christians  and  the  Church,  for  to  go  West 
then  was  truly  a  missionary  work.     For  the  moment 


GERM-THOUGHT  5 

he  seemed  to  be  there,  preaching  to  the  destitute  and 
laying  the  foundations  of  society.  Then  came  the 
thought,  that,  possibly,  he  might  live,  labor  and  die 
with  the  fruits  of  his  toils  about  him, — himself  en- 
shrined in  the  hearts  of  a  beloved  people,  sought  out 
and  adopted  by  him  in  his  youth. 

These  thoughts,  with  others,  passed  before  him 
with  the  swiftness  of  a  vision.  They  had  for  a  time 
the  effects  of  a  vision.  All  things  else  were  shut  out. 
The  chapter,  the  hymn,  the  singing,  were  all  unheard. 
In  the  general  movement  he  rose  for  prayer,  but  not 
to  join  in  the  petitions  offered.  The  spell  was  upon 
him,  and  he  seemed  to  stand  alone  as  before  God, — 
his  feelings,  his  petitions,  all  embodied  in  one  senti- 
ment, one  feeling,— a  position  of  soul  in  which  his 
one  desire  was,  "Lord,  prepare  me  for  whatever  field 
thou  hast  before  me.  Prepare  me  for  it,  and  make 
me  willing  to  enter  it.'' 

He  went  out  that  evening  not  as  he  came  in. 
Henceforth  the  prayer  was,  "May  I  be  found  in  the 
right  place,  doing  the  right  work!*'  Here  was  the 
germ,  the  unfoldings  of  which,  unto  the  fruit  thereof, 
we  are  to  trace. 


CHAPTER  11 

A    SUGGESTION 

WHO  thai  lias  passed  a  seminary  life  has  for- 
gotten the  seminary  tramp,  which  means  a 
long  walk  of  half  a  day  or  so,  generally  taken  of 
a  Saturdaj  afternoon,  when  students,  in  little  com- 
panies, arc  wont  to  extend  their  rambles  far  away 
from  sight  of  seminary  walls  and  sound  of  seminary 
hell?  It  was  in  the  spring  of  1843  that  our  dyspeptic 
friend,  Daniel  Lane,  and  two  of  his  classmates  were 
on  such  an  excursion  amid  the  hills  and  bracing  air 
of  the  West  Parish. 

For  two  and  a  half  years  these  classmates  had  keen 
associated  in  sacred  studies;  and  they  were  class- 
mates indeed.  Circumstances  had  conspired  to  bind 
them  together  with  ties  of  nmre  than  usual  strength. 
The  time  of  their  preparation  for  the  great  work  in 
view  was  rapidly  drawing  to  a  close.  And  now.  as 
was  natural,  the  conversation  turned  upon  the  prob- 
able field  of  their  labor.  The  New  England  parish, 
the  foreign  held,  the  home  field,  especially  at  the  Far 
West,  each,  in  turn,  was  discussed.  The  feeling 
seemed  rather  to  incline  to  the  latter.  The  more  they 
talked  of  it.  the  more  they  felt.  And  now  Horace 
I  tutchinson  suggested  : — 


A   si.'cansrioN 


7 


"If  we  and  some  others  of  our  classmates  could 
only  go  out  together,  and  take  possession  of  sonic 
field  where  we  could  have  the  ground  and  work  to- 
gether, what  a  grand  thing  it  would  be !"  "So  it 
would,"  was  the  reply.  Then  the  advantages,  the 
difficulties  and  the  probable  influence  of  such  a 
movement,  were  the  theme;  until,  ere  they  were 
aware  of  it,  their  feet  were  again  climbing  the  old 
familiar  hill.  The  declining  sun  hung  low,  and  the 
bell,  faithful  to  its  duties,  was  hastening  them  to 
prayers.  "We  will  think  of  this,"  said  they.  Thus 
the  germ,  ripening  to  a  suggestion,  had  struck  root 
in  other  minds,  the  growth  of  which  we  are  still  to 
follow. 

But  right  here  it  should  be  told  how  God,  as  after- 
wards discovered,  was  leading  other  minds  also.  In 
one  case,  it  was  on  this  wise  : — Xotice  had  been  given. 
about  this  time,  that  an  elder  of  a  church  in  Cincin- 
nati would  meet  the  students,  to  address  them  on  the 
claims  of  the  West.  At  the  hour  appointed,  there 
were  assembled  both  students  and  professors,  but  the 
elder  came  not.    Yet  a  Western  meeting  was  held. 

Venerable  Dr.  Woods  read  a  letter  from  a  good 
deacon  of  a  little  church  away  out  on  the  frontier, 
calling  for  young  men  to  break  to  the  people  the 
bread  of  life.1  The  saintly  Bela  B.  Edwards,  who  had 
just  traveled  West,  and  whose  mind  was  quick  to 
take  in  its  destined  progress,  expressed  his  belief  in 

'Deacon  Houston, of  Denmark.  Iowa. 


8  THE    IOWA    BAND 

the  assertion,  bold,  startling,  uhcredited  at  the  time, 
that  ''whoever  would  go  West,  in  ten  years  would 
find  himself  better  off  than  if  he  had  stayed  in  New 
England,  and,  better  than  all,  would  have  the  satis- 
faction of  laboring  where  he  was  more  needed." 
Prof.  Emerson,  in  his  offhand  way,  declared  that  he 
had  no  sort  of  doubt  that  it  was  the  duty  of  more 
than  two-thirds  of  the  students  to  seek  fields  of  labor 
outside  of  New  England.  It  was  a  stirring  meeting. 
Many  were  glad  the  elder  did  not  come. 

The  meeting  was  closed,  and  the  students  dis- 
persed. To  most,  to  all,  perhaps,  save  one,  Harvey 
Adams,  it  came  and  went  like  many  another.  There 
was  before  him  a  sleepless  night.  In  his  mind  was  at 
work  another  germ  thought.  "Out  of  New  England, 
where  he  was  more  needed."  And  if  out  of  New 
England,  where  more  needed,  why  not  where  most 
needed?  Strange  was  the  power  of  that  question  as 
it  took  possession  of  him  for  that  night  and  the  next 
day,  leading  to  much  thought  and  prayer !  Some- 
times there  can  be  no  rest  till  things  are  settled,  and 
settled  in  the  way  that  seems  right.  So  it  was  in  this 
case,  and  our  friend  came  manfully  to  the  conclusion, 
"I  am  for  the  West,  where  needed,  and  where  most 
needed." 

Then  there  was  another,  Edwin  B.  Turner,  a  gradu- 
ate of  a  Western  college,  whose  friends  were  in  the 
West.  It  was  known  to  be  settled  in- his  mind,  from 
the  first,  that  he  would  go  West  somewhere.     Just 


A    SUGGESTION  g 

how,  by  his  presence  and  intercourse,  germ-thoughts 
were  started  or  fostered  can  never  be  known.  Sel- 
dom can  it  be  told  in  any  movement,  in  which  are  the 
united  efforts  of  human  wills,  just  what  the  first  in- 
fluences were,  or  how  they  combined  to  produce  the 
result.  Here,  preeminently,  God  works  among  men 
to  will  and  to  do.  The  movement  here  recorded  we 
acknowledge  as  of  him.  Other  germs  of  it  doubtless 
there  were  in  other  minds,  but  each  can  give  only 
what  to  him  is  known.  This  only  can  the  writer  do ; 
and  so  we  will  follow  on. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE    PR  A  ]  7ER-MEE  TING 

HOW  uppermost  in  our  minds  are  thoughts, 
plans,  projects,  which  we  hold  in  common  with 
others!  How,  by  a  new  tie,  are  we  bound  to  them, 
and  they  to  us  !  And  how  natural  now,  if  Christians 
all,  and  the  plan  be  one  of  import,  to  carry  it  to  God 
in  united  prayer!  Our  three- friends  of  the  former 
chapter,  among  whom  the  question  of  concerted  ac 
tion  had  been  started,  were  more  closely  allied  than 
ever  as  they  together  walked  and  talked  of  the  West- 
ern scheme.  By  mutual  consent,  each,  in  a  quiet  way, 
suggested  it  to  others.  Whenever  it  took  with. es- 
pecial favor,  as  being  by  God's  preparing  of  course  it 
would,  there  was  one  added  to  their  number. 

Soon  the  enterprise  began  to  wear  an  important 
aspect,  calling  for  the  guidance  of  heavenly  wisdom. 
So  a  prayer-meeting  was  proposed.  All  assented. 
But  where  should  it  be  held?  Not  in  a  public  room, 
for  the  movement  was  as  yet  kept  secret.  If,  in  the 
end,  anything  should  come  of  it,  there  would  be  time 
enough  yet,  it  was  thought,  to  make  it  known;  if  not, 
it  was  better  that  it  should  always  be  a  secret.  Nor, 
again,  could  they  meet  in  a  private  room,  for,  as  yet, 


THE    PRAYER-MEETING  n 

no  two  of  those  interested  happened  to  be  roommates, 
in  whose  room  they  could  privately  assemble. 
Where,  then,  should  they  meet?  One  of  their  num- 
ber, Daniel  Lane,  was  assistant  librarian ;  and  the  li- 
brary was  proposed.  "Agreed,"  said  they ;  and  Tues- 
day evening,  in  the  Seminary  library,  was  fixed  upon 
for  the  meeting.  "But  it  will  be  dark,"  said  one;  "for 
the  rules  forbid  lights  in  the  library.''  "No  matter," 
said  another ;  "we  can  pray  in  the  dark."  So  on 
Tuesday  nights,  in  one  corner  of  the  library,  they 
used  to  pray,  to  seek  of  God  whither  to  go,  where  to 
labor.  In  one  corner  of  the  Seminary  library!  And 
what  fitter  place  could  have  been  chosen  in  which  to 
go  to  the  mercy-seat  with  such  an  errand,  than  this, 
where  heralds  of  the  cross  in  every  clime  once  had 
trod ;  where  were  about  them  the  works  of  the  pious 
dead  of  every  age ;  where,  as  the  moonbeams  played 
upon  the  portraits  of  men  once  eminent  in  the 
Church,  the  great  cloud  of  witnesses  seemed  to  com- 
pass them  about? 

There  they  prayed.  Those  first  entering  would 
find  their  way  to  the  appointed  corner,  and  begin. 
Others,  coming  in,  would  join  them  in  turn.  Occa- 
sionally, in  the  darkness,  some  new  step  would  be 
heard  ;  but  whose  it  was  would  be  unknown  to  most, 
till  a  new  voice  would  be  heard  in  prayer.  First  the 
prayers,  then  the  conference,  consultations  as  to  mo- 
tives, qualifications,  encouragements  and  discour- 
agements of  the  Western  work,  mainly  what  field,  if 


12  THE    IOWA    BAND 

any,  should  be  occupied.  Should  it  be  Ohio,  Michi- 
gan? These,  indeed,  were  west,  but  not  really  West- 
ern. Illinois,  Wisconsin?  These  were  farther  west, 
indeed,  but  then  partially,  perhaps  comparatively 
well,  supplied. 

"Well,  then,  Missouri,"  says  one. 

"But  Missouri  is  a  slave  state." 

"No  matter ;  they  need  the  gospel  there  if  it  is." 

"Yes;  but,  if  there  are  places  outside  of  slavery  just 
as  needy,  why  nfot  go  where  we  can  labor  to  the  best 
advantage?" 

"Well,  Iowa,  then, — what  say  you  to  the  new  Ter- 
ritory of  Iowa?" 

Not  much  could  be  said,  for  but  little  was  known — 
only  this  :  it  was  an  open  field,  and  of  course  there 
was  need. 

So  there  they  prayed  and  consulted  in  that  north- 
west corner  of  the  library.  Had  it  anything  to  do 
with  the  great  Northwest  soon  to  be?  In  God's  nur- 
ture were  the  germs  being  developed,  united,  di- 
rected, whose  fruitage  wras  to  be  borne  in  regions  yet 
to  be  peopled.  Rut  we  will  not  anticipate  save  in 
this :  that  Tuesday  night  prayer-meeting  on  Andover 
Hill,  transplanted,  as  it  was  soon  to  be,  to  the  plains 
of  Iowa, — may  it  long  live !  May  it  never  cease  to  be 
held  in  sacred  observance  by  the  Congregational 
.ministry  of  this  fair  State!3 

2  Note  t, 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  BAND  FORMED  AND  PLANS  MATURED 

AS  yet,  nothing  was  decided.  All  eyes,  indeed,  af- 
ter reflection  and  prayer,  were  unanimously 
turned  to  the  new  Territory  of  Iowa  as  the  field  to  be 
occupied  if  they  should  go.  Some  of  the  more  ardent 
had  opened  a  correspondence  with  the  secretaries  of 
the  American  Home  Missionary  Society ;  also  with 
the  Rev.  Asa  Turner,  agent  of  that  society  and  a  resi- 
dent pastor  of  the  Territory.  But  no  one  was  as  yet 
committed  to  the  enterprise.  It  was  not  certain  yet 
that  any  one  could  go,  and  the  weeks  were  flying 
swiftly.  It  was  time,  surely,  for  action,  and  thus  it 
came : 

"I  am  going  to  settle  this  question,"  said  Daniel 
Lane,  "so  far  as  I  am  concerned.  We  have  been 
thinking  about  it  long  enough  to  conclude  one  way 
or  another." 

That  day  he  retired  to<  his  room  for  fasting  and 
prayer.  At  evening,  as  he  came  out  at  the  setting  of 
the  sun  to  walk  with  a  friend,  he  was  ready  to  say, 
"Well,  I  am  going  to  Iowa  :  whether  any  one  else 
goes  or  not,  I  am  going." 

"And  I  think  I  will  go  with  you,"  was  the  reply. 

13 


14  THE    IOWA    BAND 

So  a  nucleus  was  formed,  and  around  it  gathered 
others  one  by  one, — some  at  once  deciding,  others 
after  more  thought,  or  seasons  of  private  fasting  and 
prayer,  till  soon  the  number  stood,  as  decided  to  go, 
at  twelve.     Their  names  were  as  follows : — 

Daniel  Lane,  Harvey  Adams,  Erastus  Ripley, 
Horace  Hutchinson,  Alden  B.  Robbins,  William 
Salter,  Edwin  B.  Turner,  Benjamin  A.  Spaulding, 
William  Hammond,  James  J.  Hill,  Ebenezer  Alden, 
Jr.,  Ephraim  Adams.  This  was  the  Iowa  Band. 
Though  seeking  labor  in  a  wild  country  these  pio- 
neers were  not  uneducated  men,  but  were  thorough- 
bred collegians,  as  the  following  data  will  show. 
Their  college  spirit  led  to  the  establishment  of  a  high 
grade  institution  in  their  new  field. 

Erastus  Ripley  was  of  Union  College,  New  York ; 
William  Salter  came  from  New  York  University ; 
Horace  Hutchinson,  Ebenezer  Alden  and  Alden  Bur- 
rill  Robbins  went  through  Amherst ;  Daniel  Lane  and 
James  Jeremiah  Hill  were  of  Bowdoin ;  Benjamin 
Adams  Spaulding  graduated  from  Harvard ;  Ephraim 
Adams  from  Dartmouth  and  Edwin  Bela  Turner 
from  Illinois  College. 

There  was  no  longer  need  of  secrecy.  Open  steps 
could  be  taken  to  mature  plans.  The  Mission  Rooms 
were  filled  with  gladness  at  the  prospect  of  such  a  re- 
enforcement  for  the  home  missionary  work.  The 
senior  secretary,  the  Rev.  Milton  Badger,  D.D.,  came 
from  New  York  to  hold  a  personal  interview  with  the 


THE    BAND    FORMED  1 5 

Band;  commissions  were  promised  for  their  chosen 
field,  and  all  things  favored  the  enterprise.  But  the 
far-off  brethren  then  laboring  in  the  proposed  field 
rejoiced  with  trembling.  Oft  had  they  looked  for 
promised  help,  but  looked  in  vain.  Those  who  had 
started  with  commissions  in  hand  for  the  distant  Ter- 
ritory had  all  lodged  by  the  way  hitherto;  none  had 
reached  them;  why  should  these? 

"It's  no  nse,"  said  Rev.  Asa  Turner  of  Denmark, 
the  Western  pastor  who  had  been  written  to  upon  the 
subject,  and  who  had  set  himself  to  the  formidable 
task  of  replying  to  the  long  list  of  queries  sent  him 
about  the  climate,  the  ague,  the  fever,  the  food, 
clothing,  etc. — "it  's  no  use  to  answer  any  more 
of  your  questions ;  for  I  never  expect  to  see  one 
of  you  west  of  the  Mississippi  River  as  long  as 
I  live." 

He  was  assured,  in  reply,  of  earnestness  in  the  mat- 
ter, but  still  he  was  incredulous.  Again  he  was  told, 
that,  God  willing,  he  would  surely  be  visited  by  a 
dozen  or  so,  and  compelled  to  believe. 

"Well,  then,"  said  he,  "come  on  ;  come  all  of  you 
directly  to  my  house  ;  come  here  to  us,  and  we  then 
can  help  you  to  your  respective  fields  of  labor."  This 
seemed  reasonable  ;  so  Denmark,  Lee  County,  Iowa, 
became  a  locality  in  the  mind  of  each,  as  yet  to 
be  seen,.  It  seemed  best  also,  unless,  in  individual 
cases,  there  should  be  special  reasons  to  the  con- 
trary, that  the  ordination  of  the  voung  men  should 


1 6  THE    IOWA    BAND 

take  place  on  the  field  where  their  life-work  was 
to  be. 

Such  a  home  missionary  movement  in  one  class 
was  thought  worthy  of  some  public  recognition. 
Accordingly,  a  meeting  was  held  on  Sabbath  even- 
ing, Sept.  3,  1843,  in  the  South  Church  at  Andover. 
A  sermon  was  preached  by  the  Rev.  Leonard  Ba- 
con, D.  D.,  and  an  appropriate  address  made  to 
the  Band  by  Dr.  Badger  of  the  Home  Missionary 
Society. 

"You  go,"  said  he,  "where  you  will  find  a  soil  of 
surpassing  richness,  all  covered  with  beautiful  flow- 
ers. But  remember  that  the  soil  is  yet  in  its  natural 
state,  and  must  be  all  turned  up.  Those  flowers, 
though  beautiful  to  the  eye,  are  but  flowers  of  weeds, 
wild  and  useless.  They  must  be  rooted  out,  and  bet- 
ter seed  cast  in  their  place." 

This  meeting  was  large ;  and  the  exercises 
throughout  «were  appropriate,  interesting  and  sol- 
emn. It  was  now  near  the  close  of  the  term.  The 
Anniversary  Day  soon  came,  and  was  gone.  The 
time  had  been  improved.  Already  had  the  boxes 
been  made,  and  the  books  packed,  soon  to  be 
shipped,  labelled  "Burlington,  Iowa,  via  New  Or- 
leans." 

A  few  weeks  now  with  home  friends,  after  which 
must  be  fixed  the  time  and  place  of  departure.  Bos- 
ton will  not  do  as  a  starting-point,  as  some  reside 
west  of  this,  and  so  on  the  way.     Some  place  must 


THE    BAND    FORM  HP  17 

be  chosen  west  of  all.  So  each  has  it  in  his  memoran- 
dum. "Albany,  New  York,  at  the  Delavan  House,'1 
on  Tuesday,  3d  of  October,  the  next  morning  to  take 
the  cars  westward." 

Where  through  broad  lands  of  green  and  gold 

The  Western  rivers  roll  their  waves, 
Before  another  year  is  told. 

We  find  our  homes  ;  perhaps,  our  graves.4 

/.  H.  Bancroft. 

3  Chosen  because  a  temperance  hotel. 

*  From  hymn  written  for  the  class  of  1S43.  and  sung  at  their  graduation. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    JOURNEY 

ON  Wednesday,  Oct.  4,  1843,  the  journey  west- 
ward began.  Most  of  the  Band  were  at  the 
appointed  place,  but  not  all.  One,  Mr.  Erastus  Ripley, 
had  been  invited  to  spend  another  year  at  the  seminary 
as  resident  licentiate.  Another,  Mr.  J.  J.  Hill,  since 
the  parting  at  Andover,  had  lost  a  father  by  death, 
and  would  be  detained  until  spring.  A  third,  Mr.  W. 
B.  Hammond,  did  not  come,  through  fear  of  a  West- 
ern climate,  and  Mr.  Horace  Hutchinson  was  detained 
a  day  by  the  death  of  a  friend,  but  would  probably 
overtake  the  company  by  night  travel.  And  yet  their 
number  was  nearly  complete  by  the  appearance  of 
two  as  twain.  Mr.  Daniel  Lane  and  Mr.  A.  B.  Rob- 
bins,  with  characteristic  foresight,  had  taken  to  them- 
selves wives  in  view  of  losses  from  our  original  num- 
ber that  might  possibly  occur. 

We  will  not  follow  the  journey  in  detail.  A  few- 
points  only  will  be  noticed  in  passing,  such  as,  after 
the  lapse  of  years,  shine  out  brightest  on  memory's 
page.  Twenty-five  years  ago,  a  journey  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Mississippi  was  long  and  tedious.  A 
week  then  would  scarcelv  suffice  for  what  can  now 


THE    JOURNEY 


±9 


be  accomplished  in  a  day.  As  practically  performed 
by  the  Band,  it  was  divided  into  three  parts — the 
railroad,  the  lakes,  and  the  prairies.  The  first  was 
soon  over,  and  soon  forgotten,  bringing  them  on 
their  way  to  Buffalo,  then  the  terminus  of  travel  west- 
ward by  cars.  Here  their  reception  and  stay  for  a 
while  were  most  pleasant.  There  was  then  living  in 
that  city,  as  pastor  of  one  of  the  churches,  that  most 
fervent  and  earnest  Christian  man,  Dr.  Asa  T.  Hop- 
kins. He  died  Nov.  28,  1847.  Though  a  stranger  to 
all,  he  gave  them  a  brother's  welcome,  and  com- 
mended them  to  the  hospitalities  of  his  people.  What 
kind  Christian  families  they  found !  Surely  this  can- 
not be  the  West,  thought  they;  not  far  enough  yet  for 
missionary  ground. 

On  Saturday  they  took  a  trip  to  Niagara,  to  gaze 
upon  the  Falls,  that  wondrous  work  of  God,  return- 
ing at  night  to  Buffalo  to  spend  the  Sabbath  with 
their  kind  friends.  It  was  a  bright,  pleasant  day,  and 
their  hearts  were  joyous  within  them. 

The  following  clipping  from  a  Buffalo  paper  will 
reveal  how  the  day  was  spent : 

Rev.  Messrs.  Ephraim  Adams,  of  New  Ipswich,  N. 
H.,  Harvey  Adams,  Franklin  City,  Ct.,  Ebenezer  Al- 
den,  Randolph,  Mass.,  Horace  Hutchinson,  Sutton. 
Mass.,  Daniel  Lane,  Freeport,  Me.,  Alden  B.  Rob- 
bins,  Salem,  Mass.,  William  Salter,  New  York  City, 
N.  Y.,  Benjamin  A.  Spaulding,  Bedford,  Mass.,  and 
Edwin  B.  Turner,  Monticello,   111.,  met  in  this  city, 


2o  THE    IOWA    BAND 

on  Saturday  last,  by  agreement,  on  their  way  to  the 
Territory  of  Iowa,  and  remained  over  Sabbath.  The 
most  of  them  attended  divine  service  at  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church,  where,  opportunely,  they  were 
permitted  to  partake  of  the  communion,  before  their 
departure  for  the  West.  In  the  evening  of  that  day, 
by  appointment,  these  gentlemen  attended  a  general 
meeting,  in  the  First  Church,  at  which  Messrs.  Sal- 
ter, Robbins,  E.  Adams,  Sutton  and  Lane,  spoke  to 
a  large  audience,  in  the  most  interesting  manner,  in 
regard  to  the  enterprise  upon  which  they  have  en- 
tered. It  appears  that  some  time  in  February  last, 
two  or  three  young  men  in  Andover  Theological 
Seminary,  in  casting  about  for  the  field  of  their  fu- 
ture labors  as  clergymen,  hit  upon  a  plan  of  going  to 
Iowa,  and  laboring  there.  They  communicated  this 
plan  to  others,  who  joined  them ;  and  finally  to  the 
Home  Missionary  Society,  where  it  was  favorably 
received,  and  these  young  men  with  two  others.  Rev. 
Messrs.  James  J.  Hill,  of  Phippsburg,  Me.,  and  Wm. 
B.  Hammond,  of  Fair  Haven,  Mass.,  (who  are  de- 
tained by  sickness)  eleven  in  all,  made  arrangements 
with  that  society  to  go  to  Iowa,  and  devote  them- 
selves as  missionaries  to  that  young  and  rapidly 
growing  territory.  We  are  glad  to  see  Protestant 
New  England  alive  to  the  necessity  of  scattering  re- 
ligious and  scientific  light  and  knowledge  in  the  val- 
ley of  the  Mississippi.  For,  in  the  forcible  language 
of  Professor  Post,  of  Jacksonville,  (111.)  who  also  at- 
tended and  addressed  the  meeting  above  named,  "A 
plea  for  the  West  is  a  plea  for  the  East.  If  the  West 
sins,  the  East  will  sin  with  her.  If  the  West  falls,  she 
will  drag  down  the  East  with  her.  The  chain  of  great 
lakes  on  the  north,  and  the  Mississippi  and  her  arms 
on  the   west,   whose   navigable   waters   would,   in   a 


THE    JOURNEY  21 

Straight  line,  surround  the  globe,  hind  the  East  and 
the  West  so  indissoluble  together,  that  the  fate  of 
the  one  must  be  the  fate  of  the  other." 

These  missionaries,  together  with  Professor  Post, 
and  four  other  missionaries,  bound  to  Michigan  and 
Wisconsin,  who  providentially  met  the  Iowa  Band 
here,  left  last  evening  in  the  Missouri  for  their  several 
destinations.  May  they  have  a  safe  and  pleasant  pas- 
sage, and  be  successful  in  their  undertaking !  We 
cannot  refrain  from  saying  that  we  have  seldom  seen 
so  many  men  banded  together  in  an  enterprise,  who 
seemed  to  possess  such  sterling  good  sense,  and 
humble,  quiet  characters,  coupled  with  firmness  and 
decision,  as  did  these  young  men. 

On  Monday  morning  all  felt  as  though  they  had 
enjoyed  the  acquaintance  of  weeks,  and  were  almost 
sad  at  parting.  But  the  parting  came.  In  the  even- 
ing of  that  day,  Oct.  9,  they  went  on  board  the 
steamer  "Missouri,"  bound  for  Chicago.  The  good 
pastor,  and  other  Christian  friends,  accompanied 
them  on  board  to  bid  them  Godspeed,  and  say  adieu. 
A  hymn  was  sung,  and  a  prayer  offered.  Beautiful 
in  the  bloom  of  youth,  and  with  sweetest  voice  in  that 
evening's  song,  was  the  sister  of  the  pastor's  wife, 
who  stood  among  them  there;  but  the  sad  news  came 
a  few  months  afterwards,  that  the  rose  was  fading 
upon  her  cheek,  and  soon  again  that  she  was  dead. 
By  her  side  stood  Miss  Jane  Brush,  who  became  the 
wife  of  Edwin  B.  Turner,  a  little  older  in  years,  but 
her    companion    in    the    family,    bidding  with    others 


2  2  THE    IOWA    BAND 

a  last  farewell,  yet  destined  of  God  soon  to  be  a 
sharer  in  the  fortunes  of  those  to  whom  she  was  say- 
ing adieu.  The  last  bell  rings,  and  the  planks  are 
ready  to  be  drawn  in.  Already  is  the  hoarse  breath 
of  the  steamer  heard  as  her  whole  frame  quivers  at 
the  life-beats  of  her  engine,  and  she  swings  slowlv 
round  from  the  pier,  and  takes  her  course. 

"Adieu,  adieu !"  and  so  is  the  second  portion  of  the 
journey  begun.  The  wide,  wide  Lakes  were  entered, 
— all  strange,  all  new,  and  yet  soon  how  dull !  It  was, 
indeed,  with  some  interest  that  they  touched  at  Erie, 
Cleveland  and  Detroit.  The  morning  at  Mackinaw 
was  bright  and  calm,  and  the  hour  pleasant,  in  which 
they  were  permitted,  in  the  bracing  air,  to  scale  the 
heights  on  shore,  or  watch  the  trout  in  the  clear  wa- 
ters of  the  upper  lakes.  But,  on  the  whole,  head 
winds  and  a  rough  sea  without,  and  seasickness  and 
monotony  on  board,  made  it  anything  but  a  pleasant 
passage. 

Late  on  Saturday  night,  in  stormy  weather,  they 
had  only  reached  Milwaukee.  There  most  of  them 
left  the  boat  to  tarry  for  the  Sabbath.  A  few,  either 
too  sick  to  leave  their  berths,  or  for  some  other 
special  reason,  remained  on  board  to  arrive  at  Chica- 
go in  the  morning.  Those  tarrying  for  the  Sabbath 
had  a  quiet,  pleasant  day,  and  on  Monday  found  a 
boat  to  take  them  on  their  way  to  join  those  who  had 
gone  before  them.     And  so  the  Lakes  were  passed.' 

5  Note  2. 


THE    JOURNEY 


23 


One  more  experience  now, — the  prairies,  the  great 
wide  prairies  of  Illinois, — and  the  journey  will  be 
complete.  Almost  two  weeks  had  already  been  con- 
sumed.   Another  would  bring  the  end. 

It  was  in  the  fall  of  the  year,  just  after  harvest- 
time,  and  from  all  parts  of  Illinois,  even  farther  west 
than  the  interior  of  the  state,  farmers  were  coming  to 
find  a  market  for  their  wheat  in  the  then  great  city 
of  Chicago,  of  eight  thousand  people.  On  their  re- 
turn home,  these  farmers  were  glad  to  find  some 
traveler,  some  freight,  or  anything  else,  to  take  with 
them,  that  might  help  to  bear  the  expense  of  their 
long  journey  to  market.  In  this  way,  it  was  thought. 
private  conveyance  could  be  found  more  comfortable 
and  pleasant  than  by  stage.  So  all  were  busy.  Bar- 
gains must  be  made  ;  canvas  coverings  for  the  wagons, 
provisions  and  general  supplies  must  be  secured  in 
true  emigrant  style,  for  hotels  were  far  apart,  and 
the  belated  traveler  was  often  obliged  to  spend  the 
night  on  the  prairie. 

Denmark,  Lee  County,  Iowa,  was  now  the  termi- 
nus looked  for,  but  was  to  be  reached  by  different 
routes.  One  party,  the  brethren  with  wives,  in  com- 
pany with  Rev.  A.  B.  Hitchcock  with  his  wife,  at  that 
time  missionary  at  Davenport,  were  to  strike  across 
for  Davenport  on  the  Mississippi,  then  go  by  boat  to 
Burlington,  and  thence  to  Denmark.  The  others 
were  to  take  a  more  southerly  course,  direct  to  Bur- 
lington, and  so  to  Denmark. 


24  THE    IOWA    BAND 

Now  began  Western  life ; — and,  for  a  while,  it  was 
well  enjoyed.  Now  in  a  slough  in  the  bottom-lands 
of  some  sluggish  stream,  and  now  high  up  on  the 
rolling  prairie :  what  a  vast  extent  of  land  meets  the 
eye, — land  in  every  direction,  with  scarce  a  shrub  or 
a  tree  to  be  seen !  How  like  a  black  ribbon  upon  a 
carpet  of  green  stretches  away  in  the  distance  before 
them  the  road  they  are  to  travel !  And  occasionally 
some  far-off  cloth-covered  wagon  like  their  own  is 
descried,  like  a  vessel  at  sea,  rightly  named  a 
"prairie  schooner."  In  the  settled  portions,  what 
farms !  what  fences !  how  unlike  their  Eastern  homes ! 
No  stones,  no  barns,  children  and  pigs  running  to- 
gether. Then  what  places  in  which  to  sleep !  and 
what  breakfasts !  If,  after  a  morning  ride,  they  made 
a  lucky  stop,  such  honey !  such  milk !  such  butter  and 
eggs !  and  all  so  cheap, — twelve  and  a  half  cents  a 
meal ! 

Day  by  day  they  traveled  on,  gazing,  wondering, 
remarking  and  being  remarked  upon.  Some  thought 
them  "land-sharks,"  some  Mormons.  But  even  this 
became  at  last  wearisome  and  monotonous.  On 
Saturday  afternoon,  the  southern  party,  worn  with 
travel,  halted  at  Galesburg  for  another  Sabbath's 
rest. 

Monday  morning  found  them  early  on  their  way, 
refreshed,  and  eager  for  the  end.  "To-day,"  thought 
they,  "the  setting  sun  is  to  look  with  us  upon  the 
great  Mississippi :"  and  so  it  proved.     For  an  hour  or 


THE    JOURNEY 

-5 

so  near  the  elose  of  the  day,  they  had  been  winding 
and  jolting  through  timbered  bottom-lands  among 
ln»ge  trees  grand  in  their  silence,  gazing  the  while 
earnestly  forward,  till  at  last  it  was  seen -the 
smooth,  broad  bosom  of  the  great  river,  with  the  last 
silvery  rays  of  the  setting  sun  plaving  upon  it 

Three  cheers,"  cried  they,  -for  the  Mississippi  I" 
J  heir  hearty  cheers  rang  out  upon   the  forest;  and 
"1   a   rew   moments   more,   they    were    on    the   river's 
hank      But  the  ferry-boat  had  just  made  its  last  trip 
for  the  day;  and.  though  they  hallooed  for  help    no 
one  responded  to  the^all.    The  twilight  deepened  '    It 
was  soon  dark,  save  as  the  stars  and  the  moonbeams 
sparkled  and  danced  upon  the  waters.     The  hallooing 
Had  ceased  as  useless,  and  things  looked  desperate 
but  the  dip  of  a  paddle  was  heard,  and  a  canoe  soon 
came  m  sight.     It  was  a  chance  to  cross  the  river - 
twenty-five  cents  apiece,  and  a  bark  of  limited  accom- 
modations.       Brothers    Salter   and    Turner    declared 
they  would   rather  stay  by  the  stuff  all   night      Th- 
others  paid  the  price,  and  stepped  in.    It  was  a  heavy 
load  for  a  light  canoe,  and  all  must  remain  motionless 
bo,  in  stillness  and  silence,  with  God's  stars  looking 
•own  upon  them,  they  were  paddled  across  to  Iowa's 
shore. 

Xow  in  Iowa,  at  Burlington  !  Kind  friends  even 
here,  were  awaiting  their  arrival ;  and.  as  the  news 
spread,  they  were  soon  constrained  to  turn  from  tav- 
ern  tare  to   Christian   homes,     The  watchers   by   the 


26  THE    IOWA    BAND 

stuff  came  over  in  the  morning;  and  before  another 
night  they  had  traveled  fifteen  miles  on  Iowa  soil 
to  Denmark.  They  had  seen  the  Western  pastor  in 
his  home,  and  he  had  scattered  them  for  hospitality 
among  the  members  of  his  flock.0  The  northern  party 
soon  came  in  safety.  All  were  to  rest  a  while,  and 
then  scatter. 

0  See  note  3. 


CHAPTER    VI 
ORDINATION   AND   DISPERSION 

ON  Sabbath  morning,  Nov.  5,  1843,  tne  usually 
quiet  town  of  Denmark  was  all  astir.  A  great 
event  was  to  occur.  Every  child  had  heard  that  nine 
young  ministers,  fresh  from  the  East,  had  come  to 
preach  in  the  Territory.  In  anticipation  of  the  event, 
Rev.  Asa  Turner  and  Rev.  Reuben  Gaylord  had  taken 
a  long  tour  to  spy  out  the  land,  and  decide  upon  the 
places  to  be  occupied ;  and  on  that  Sabbath  seven  of 
these  young  ministers  were  to  be  ordained.  Den- 
mark then  consisted  of  a  few  scattered  farmhouses 
of  New-England-like  appearance ;  and  convenient 
thereto  stood  a  low,  broken-backed,  elongated  build- 
ing, compelled  as  yet  to  the  double  service  of  school 
and  meeting-house. 

This,  at  the  appointed  hour,  was  the  center  of  at- 
traction. The  council  had  previously  been  organized, 
and  the  candidates  examined.  The  members  of  the 
Band  then  ordained  were  Edwin  B.  Turner,  William 
Salter.  Ebenezer  Alden,  Jr..  Horace  Hutchinson, 
Ephraim  Adams,  Daniel  Lane  and  Benjamin  A. 
Spaulding.  With  them  were  ordained  W.  A.  Thomp- 
son, who  came  to  the  Territory  about  the  same  time, 


20  THE    IOWA    BAND 

and  D.  Granger,  who  was  already  here  as  a  licentiate. 
The  exercises  were :  sermon  by  the  Rev.  J.  A.  Reed, 
from  Acts  20:  28  (the  subject  was,  "Prerequ'sites 
to  Success  in  the  Gospel  Ministry") ;  ordaining  prayer 
by  the  Rev.  Asa  Turner ;  charge  by  the  Rev.  C.  Burn- 
ham  ;  right  hand  of  fellowship  by  the  Rev.  Reuben 
Gaylord. 

The  house,  of  course,  was  crowded,  and  the  occa- 
sion one  of  great  interest.  To  the  few  brethren  al- 
ready in  the  field,  it  was  a  day  of  rejoicing.  Said 
Brother  Gaylord,  "Such  a  day  I  had  never  seen  be- 
fore ;  such  a  day  I  had  never  expected  to  see  in  my 
lifetime.  The  most  I  could  do,  when  alone,  was  to 
weep  tears  of  joy,  and  return  thanks  to  God." 

This  was  an  interesting  and  solemn  occasion ;  but 
there  had  been,  a  day  or  two  previous,  in  the  pastor's 
study,  a  meeting  of  still  greater  interest  to  the  young 
ministers.  It  was  a  meeting  in  which  they  were 
to  decide  among  themselves  in  what  particular  place 
the  scene  of  the  future  labors  of  each  should  be.  In 
former  times,  and  far  away,  they  had  often  met  for 
prayer,  often  asked  God  to  guide  them  in  their  way. 
He  had  guided  them ;  had  turned  their  hearts  to 
Iowa,  and  brought  them  thither ;  and  now,  with  or- 
dination vows  soon  to  be  taken,  they  had  met  to  de- 
cide where,  in  the  wide  field  around  them,  each  should 
labor.  It  was  a  solemn  meeting,  a  delicate  business, 
a  time  when  self  must  be  laid  aside,  and  each  must  be 
willing  to  be  anything,  to  go  anywhere.     A  prayer 


ORDINATION    AND    DISPERSION 


29 


was  offered  thai  the  Spirit  of  God  might  be  upon 
them,  and  with  them.  Then  Fathers  Turner  and 
Gaylord,  who  had  explored  the  field,  came  in,  and, 
map  in  hand,  described  their  tour,  and  the  places  vis- 
ited, and  retired. 

Now,  by  free  suggestion  and  mutual  consent,  the 
assignment  began.  Brother  Hutchinson,  for  peculiar 
reasons,  as  was  well  known,  was  inclined  to  Burling-- 
ton,  and  Harvey  Adams  to  Farmington.  None  were 
disposed  to  object ;  and  so  their  destination  was  fixed. 
"Those  having  wives,"  it  was  said,  "ought  to  be  pro- 
vided for  in  places  as  comfortable  as  any  in  the  Terri- 
tory." A  minister-seeking  man  from  Keosauqua  had 
claimed  Brother  Lane  as  the  one  of  his  choice.  His 
promises  were  fair,  and  he  was  gratified.  Blooming- 
ton,  since  called  Muscatine,  then  "a  smart  town"  of 
four  hundred  inhabitants,  on  the  Mississippi,  seemed 
a  good  place  for  one  with  a  family ;  and  so  this,  by 
common  consent,  was  ceded  to  Brother  Rabbins :  and 
thus  the  wives  were  provided  for. 

Away  out  in  the  new  purchase,  in  the  region  of 
the  old  Indian  Agency,  new  fields  were  opening, 
calling  mostly  for  itinerant  labor  for  the  present,  and 
endurance  of  frontier  hardships  as  a  good  soldier. 
Brother  Spaulding  would  as  soon  take  this  position 
as  any  other ;  and  thither  was  his  face  turned.  Some 
must  go  up  into  the  northern  counties  of  Jackson  and 
Jones.  This  was  far  distant,  to  be  sure,  and  the  re- 
gion not  thickly  settled  :  but  then,  the  more  northern 


30  THE    IOWA    BAND 

the  location,  the  more  Eastern  the  people ;  and  that 
part  of  the  state  would  some  time  be  rilled  up. 
Brothers  Salter  and  Turner,  the  David  and  Jonathan 
of  the  company,  rather  liked  the  idea  of  exploring  this 
portion  of  the  field  together,  and  deciding  for  them- 
selves where  to  locate.  This  they  did,  eventually 
finding  themselves,  —  the  former  at  Maquoketa,  and 
the  latter  at  Cascade.  The  two  places  yet  remaining, 
which  then  seemed  the  most  important,  were  Solon 
and  Mt.  Pleasant :  for  these  there  were  two  brethren, 
Ebenezer  Alden  and  Ephraim  Adams,  who  said  they 
would  settle  the  matter  by  themselves ;  which  they 
did  by  referring  it  that  evening  to  Father  Turner. 
He  assigned  Mr.  Alden  to  Solon,  and  Mr.  Adams  to 
Mt.  Pleasant. 

So  the  work  was  done  with  perfect  harmony  and 
_good  will, — quickly  done,  without  an  unpleasant 
word  or  a  jealous  thought ;  and  every  one  was  satis- 
fied. Considering  the  nature  of  the  meeting  and  the 
issue  thereof,  let  God  be  praised ! 

On  Sabbath  night,  Nov.  5,  1843,  as  eac^  retired  to 
rest  after  having  been  ordained  to  his  work,  he  had 
his  particular  field  in  view.  On  Monday  morning  all 
was  bustle,  preparatory  to  their  departure.  Occa- 
sionally, as  they  met  in  passing  to  and  fro,  there  was 
the  grasp  of  the  hand,  the  hearty  "Good-bye !"  and 
"The  Lord  bless  you !"  "Let  us  remember  Tuesday 
night,"  was  the  parting  suggestion.  The  meeting  al- 
luded to  in  the  pastor's  study  was  the  last  ever  held 


ORDINATION    AND    DISPERSION 


31 


by  the  Band  at  which  all  the  members  were  together.1 
Such  a  meeting  on  earth  where  all  were  present,  there 
now  can  never  be. 

'  Note  Xo.  4  and  Appendix  I. 


CHAPTER    VII 

GETTING     TO     WORK    AND     COALESCING 

INTIMATELY  connected,  yet  widely  different,  are 
theory  and  practice.  The  theory  we  spin  out  in 
thought,  speech  and  books ;  the  practice  we  find  amid 
the  vital  forces,  the  living  issues  and  interests  of 
actual  life.  Right  here  it  is  that  our  previous  in- 
structions sometimes  appear  almost  useless,  our  no- 
tions visionary,  and  our  plans  futile.  For  success  in 
any  calling  or  profession,  more  is  to  be  learned  than 
can  be  learned  prior  to  entering  upon  it. 

Of  no  profession,  perhaps,  is  this  more  true  than 
of  the  ministerial.  Against  the  usual  preparatory 
course  through  ten  years  of  study,  in  academy,  col- 
lege and  seminary,  not  a  word  is  to  be  said :  it  is  by 
no  means  useless.  In  many  respects,  and  in  most 
cases,  it  is  essential ;  but  it  alone  can  never  qualify  one 
for  the  ministerial  work.  This  is  never  found  to  be 
precisely  what  it  seems  in  books.  It  includes  many 
an  experience  and  emergency  for  which  the  previous 
training  has  given  no  real  preparation;  while  much 
of  the  so-called  preparation  that  has  been  made,  how- 
ever cherished  and  relied  upon,  will  be  found  like  the 
armor  of  Saul  on  the  youthful  David,  and  can  only 
be  put  aside  as  cumbersome  and  useless. 

32 


GETTING-   TO    WORK    AND    COALESCING     33 

Often  the  young  minister  finds  himself  coming 
awkwardly  into  his  calling,  because  he  seeks  to  carry 
into  it  the  full  panoply  of  the  schools,  or  of  favorite 
theological  giants,  instead  of  going  to  his  work  sim- 
ply in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  The  process  of  getting 
to  work  so  as  to  work  successfully,  in  which  every 
one  has  so  much  to  learn  that  has  not  been  taught 
him  by  books  and  teachers,  is  always  more  or  less  a 
process  of  disappointments  and  failures.  A  modifica- 
tion of  previous  views  and  plans  becomes  necessary. 
There  are  frequent  calls  for  self-adjustments  and 
adaptations,  to  meet  unthought-of  exigencies ;  so 
that  the  man  often,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  comes 
out  far  different  in  many  respects  from  what  he  had 
proposed.  So  it  proved  in  the  case  of  the  classmates, 
who,  in  a  few  short  days,  were  taken  from  the  quiet 
scenes  of  student  life  at  Andover,  and  set  down — one 
here,  and  another  there — as  home  missionaries  in 
Iowa. 

One,  from  the  representations  then  frequent  re- 
specting the  moral  wants  of  the  West,  had  pictured 
to  himself  a  country  destitute  of  preachers,  and  a 
people,  with  the  recollections  of  Christian  homes 
fresh  in  their  memories,  all  eager  to  hear  the  gospel. 
He  had  fancied,  that,  when  once  among  them,  the  sim- 
ple announcement  that  he  came  as  a  minister  would 
be  enough  immediately  to  draw  about  him  those 
famishing  for  the  bread  of  life.  "Oh,  what  a  joy," 
thought  he,  "to  be  a  home  missionarv !" 


34  THE    IOWA    BAND 

Imagine  the  change  in  his  views  as  he  found,  in 
the  place  to  which  he  was  assigned,  the  great  majority 
of  the  people  not  only  just  as  indifferent  as  elsewhere, 
but,  owing  to  the  sharp,  worldly  features  of  a  stirring 
Western  town,s  even  more  so.  The  few  that  had  any 
interest  at  all  in  religions  things  were  cut  np  into 
cliques  and  denominations  of  all  sorts,  some  of  which 
he  had  never  heard  of  before;  and,  to  meet  then- 
wants,  there  was  a  minister  or  preacher  of  some  kind 
at  every  corner  of  the  streets,  making  it,  as  the  Sab- 
bath came,  not  only  difficult  to  find  a  place  or  an  hour 
in  which  to  preach,  but  more  difficult  still  to  secure 
any  thing  like  a  stated  congregation  from  Sabbath  to 
Sabbath.  Here  was  actual  experience  as  against  the 
theory  of  home-missionary  life. 

In  his  mind,  another  one  of  this  untried  Band  had 
planned  on  this  wise:  "I  am  going  to  Iowa;  and, 
when  I  get  there,  I  am  going  to  have  my  study  and 
library.  Then  1  am  going  to  write  two  sermons  a 
week ;  and,  when  the  Sabbath  comes,  I  am  going  to 
preach  them,  and  the  people,  if  they  want  the  gospel, 
must  come  to  hear."  Well,  he  came  to  Iowa  to  find 
his  home,  for  the  time  being,  in  the  house  of  kind 
Christian  people,  in  which  the  one  room  must  answer 
all  the  needs  of  the  family,  with  those  of  the  new  min- 
ister superadded.  The  familiar  quilt  of  those  days  par- 
titioned off  one  corner  for  his  bedroom  and  study ;  and 
his  study-chair  was  a  saddle.    As  for  written  sermons, 

8  Mount  Pleasant. 


GETTING     TO     WORK    AND    COALESCING     35 

they  were,  of  course,  few;  and  if  any  one  was  com- 
pelled to  go  about  in  search  of  the  people,  instead  of 
being  sought  by  them,  it  was  William  Salter. 

A  third,  Alden  B.  Robbins,  fancied  that  he  would 
have  three  or  four  preaching-places  far  enough  apart 
to  enable  him  to  preach  on  the  same  subjects  in  each 
place.  So  he  was  calculating  on  time  and  opportunity 
to  work  up  extempore  sermons  of  great  power  on 
important  subjects.  He  found  himself,  and  for  years 
has  stood,  where,  with  some  of  the  same  hearers  from 
Sabbath  to  Sabbath,  the  constant  demand  was  for  two 
written  sermons  to  be  prepared  each  week,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  cut  off  from  the  usual  relief  of  minis- 
terial exchange  and  of  annual  vacations. 

Twenty-five  years  ago  (1843),  Nauvoo,  the  city  of 
the  Mormons,  was  in  its  glory.  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher 
had  sounded,  through  the  East,  alarms  of  Catholicism 
in  the  West.  These  two  opposing  forces,  it  was  sup- 
posed, would  at  once  confront  any  Christian  laborer 
going  West,  and  meet  him  at  every  turn.  So  Mc- 
Gavin's  "Protestantism,"  a  huge  work,  was  procured 
and  studied,  the  Mormon  Bible  perused,  and  in  other 
directions  special  preparations  made  to  meet  them, 
for  must  not  the  workman  go  forth  prepared  for  his 
work? 

In  fact,  however,  the  most  of  our  young  missiona- 
ries for  years  never  saw  a  Mormon  ;  and,  as  for  Ca- 
tholicism, this  was  by  no  means  the  only  hostile  ism 
in  the  land.    They  found  a  people  starting  homes,  in- 


36  THE    IOWA    BAND 

stitutions,  usages,  laws,  customs,  in  a  new  territory ; 
gathered  from  all  parts  of  the  country  and  the  world ; 
coming  together  with  differing  tastes,  prejudices, 
ideas  and  plans ;  and  representing  all  shades  of  belief 
and  disbelief.  Every  phase  of  error,  that  any  age  or 
country  had  ever  seen,  was  here  cropping  out.  They 
soon  found  that  they  were  where,  if  their  lives  were 
to  be  of  use,  if  they  were  not  to  be  swallowed  up  by 
the  forces  around  them,  they  must  be  positive  and 
earnest.  They  must  set  forth  the  best  platform  under 
God  they  could,  and,  as  earnest  men,  set  about  build- 
ing thereon.  What  that  platform  was  to  be,  and  what 
the  work  to  be  done  upon  it,  was  not  so  much  of  a 
question  as  how  to  do  it ;  what  to  unlearn,  and  what 
to  learn ;  how  to  be  adapted  to  circumstances ;  when 
to  take  on  new  methods  and  ways,  and  when  to  cling 
to  the  old ;  and  how,  especially,  to  mingle  among  the 
people,  not  only  as  among  but  of  them,  so  as,  by  iden- 
tity of  feeling  and  interest,  to  gain  their  confidence 
and  affection,  and  so  an  open  ear,  and  by  God's  grace, 
an  open  heart. 

After  the  ordination  and  dispersion  came  this 
process  of  getting  to  work,  each  in  his  own  field,  and 
coalescing, — this  process,  we  will  not  say,  of  turning 
from  the  Eastern  to  the  Western  man,  but  rather  of 
growing  from  the  Eastern  into  the  Western,  in  which 
somewhat  of  over-niceties  and  the  restraints  of  eti- 
quette and  form  are  laid  aside. 

"How  do  you  like  the  new    minister?"   was   asked 


GETTING     TO     WORK     AND     COALESCING     37 

of  a  resident  in  a  county  where  Brother  Ebenezer 
Alden  was  thus  getting  to  work.  "Oh,  we  all  believe 
in  him,"  was  the  reply;  showing  how  Eastern  habits 
and  culture  were  no  barrier,  as  they  sometimes  are, 
to  access  to  the  hearts  of  the  hardy  pioneers.  In  this 
process  of  getting  to  work,  in  the  course  of  a  year  or 
two  things  were  fully  settled. 

First,  what,  ecclesiastically,  the  platform  of  the 
missionaries  was  to  be.  This  in  the  case  of  each  was 
Congregational.  With  a  number,  when  they  came 
to  the  Territory,  the  matter  of  church  polity  was  an 
open  question.  Decided  instructions  in  the  Seminary 
had  not  been  given.  There  had  been  no  conference 
respecting  it,  one  with  the  other,  by  which  any  con- 
clusion or  agreement  had  been  reached  as  to  whether 
they  should  be  Congregationalists  or  Presbyterians. 
The  feeling  was,  that,  very  likely,  some  would  be  one, 
and  some  the  other.  Nor,  after  they  came,  were  any 
pains  taken  by  the  Congregational  brethren  on  the 
ground  to  influence  them  in  this  matter.  But  in  the 
providence  of  God,  by  the  fitness  of  things  soon  per- 
ceived, with  one  consent  they  thought  best  to  build 
upon  what,  with  a  single  exception,  had  been  the 
foundation  of  their  fathers.  In  after  years  they 
thanked  God  that  it  was  so.9 

Secondly,  they  had  in  affection,  feelings,  interests 
and  aims,  coalesced  with  the  brethren  who  preceded 
them.    These  were  few :  not  so  many  by  half  as  those 

'■>  Note  ,. 


38  THE    IOWA    BAND 

who  reenforced  them.  Coming  in  such  compara'u.e 
numbers  as  classmates  in  the  same  seminary,  as  did 
the  Iowa  Band,  and  at  so  early  a  period  in  the  history 
of  the  state,  it  would  not  have  been  strange,  if,  in  the 
minds  of  the  brethren  already  here,  there  had  been 
the  suggestion  at  least,  if  not  the  fear,  that  the  new- 
comers would  be  clannish  in  their  feeling,  banded 
together,  and  standing  apart  from  others ;  not  only 
disposed  to  set  aside  those  who  were  here  before,  but 
dictatorial  and  assuming  over  those  who  should  come 
after  them.  If  any  such  suggestion  or  fear  there  was, 
one  year  was  sufficient  to  dispel  it.10 

With  open  hands  and  warm  hearts  were  they  re- 
ceived ;  and  the  common  interests  and  experiences  of 
home-missionary  life  soon  bound  all  together  as  one. 
As  they  coalesced  with  those  who  had  preceded  them, 
so  have  others  coming  later,  till  the  Iowa  ministry  of 
the  Congregational  churches  has  become  a  band  in- 
deed ;  and  though  that  part  of  it  known  as  the  Iowa 
Band  has  thus  far  been  made  prominent  in  this  home- 
missionary  record,  and,  in  the  circumstances,  may 
properly,  perhaps,  occasionally  be  so  made  in  what 
follows,  yet  be  it  understood,  that,  as  to  work  accom- 
plished and  results  reached,  honor  is  due,  under  God, 
not  to  them  alone,  but  to  all  who  have  labored  with 
them, — to  those  who  have  come  in  at  a  later  period  as 
well  as  to  those  who  were  here  before  them. 

1°  Note  No,  6. 


CHATTER    \  111 
A    DIARY" 

STILL  further  to  illustrate,  and  as  affording,  to 
some  extent,  a  little  more  of  an  inside  view  of 
this  process  of  getting  to  work,  we  give  in  this  chap- 
ter a  hrief  diary.  It  contains  the  observations  of  one, 
who,  in  that  first  year,  was  called  to  visit  the  most  of 
his  brother  ministers  at  their  homes.  The  tour  begins 
upon  the  banks  of  the  Des  Moines  at  Keosauqua. 

July  1 6,  1844.  —  Here  are  Brother  Lane  and  wife 
in  their  little  home  with  two  rooms.  They  have  a 
chair  or  two  now,  and  a  table  ;  but  they  say  they  set 
up  housekeeping  without  either,  using,  instead,  old 
boxes.  They  have  a  church  of,  a  few  members,  a  vil- 
lage of  promise,  and  the  people  are  kind.  On  the 
whole,  they  are  in  good  spirits  and  hopeful.  The 
church  is  organized  as  Presbyterian  ;  but  its  members 
are  not  all  of  that  way  of  thinking.  Brother  Lane  is 
coming  to  be  very  decided  that  Congregationalism  is 
the  true  Bible  way;  is  really  quite  conscientious  about 
it.  A  majority  are  with  him  in  opinion.  How  things 
will  turn  out,  I  can't  tell. 

July  18.  —  At  Mount    Pleasant    to-night.      Found 

"  Note  7. 
39 


40  THE    IOWA    BAND 

Brother  Ephraim  Adams  well.  He  has  a  study  at  a 
tavern,  and  "boards  round,"  like  a  schoolmaster.  No 
church  organized,  or  next  to  none.  He  groans  over 
sects  and  divisions,  and  hopes  somehow  to  get  some  of 
them  together.  Says  he  sometimes  thinks  there  are 
more  ministers  West  than  East.  One  can  do  nothing 
in  this  place  till  he  takes  his  stand,  and  goes  to  work. 
It  is  not  so  much  destitution  as  it  is  indisposition, 
selfishness  and  self-seeking  of  the  human  heart  here 
as  everywhere. 

July  19.  —  Came  up  to  Brighton.  This  is  a  farming 
settlement,  a  number  of  intelligent,  pious  families. 
Brother  Burnham  is  the  minister  here ;  used  to  know 
him  in  college.  He  has  a  house :  it  is  unpainted,  no 
carpets  in  it,  a  poor  fence  around  it,  wood  pile  near, 
and  pigs  loose.  Doesn't  look  much  like  a  New  Eng- 
land parsonage.  I  wonder  if  this  is  n't  the  way  for 
a  minister  to  do, —  to  get  a  home,  and  grow  up  with 
the  people.  Farmers  are  the  basis  of  everything;  and 
he  has  a  good  field. 

Monday,  July  22. — This  (Iowa  City)  is  the  state 
capital,  the  great  city  of  Iowa,  of  which  everybody 
has  heard,  of  four  hundred  inhabitants.  It  has  a  pleas- 
ant location,  however,  and  plenty  of  room.  Went 
into  the  state  library ;  while  looking  about,  met  an  old 
gentleman,  who  proved  to  be  Governor  Lucas,  the  ex- 
governor  of  the  territory.  He  was  affable,  and  inter- 
ested to  show  me  about  the  city ;  took  me  down  half 
a  mile  or  so  to  see  some  mineral  springs.     I  felt  a 


A    DIARY 


41 


little  awkward  to  have  such  attention  paid  me  by  so 
old  a  man.  Spent  the  Sabbath  here  with  the  Rev.  W. 
\V.  Woods,  A  1.13..  of  the  New  School  Presbyterian 
church,  and  preached  for  him.  There  is  an  ( )ld 
School  church  here  also,  but  no  Congregational. 
Neither  of  the  churches  having-  any  meeting-house, 
they  hold  meetings  in  the  State  House, — one  in  the 
Representatives',  the  other  in  Senators'  Hall.  These 
two  halls  are  opposite  each  other ;  so  that,  as  the  doors 
were  open  while  the  people  were  collecting,  when  we 
took  our  seats  in  the  desk  we  could  look  across 
through  the  opposite  hall  and  see  the  Old  School  min- 
ister in  his  desk  at  the  other  end  of  the  building. 
"Now,"  whispered  the  doctor,  "now  the  watchmen  see 
eye  to  eye."  Did  n't  think  't  was  just  the  place  for 
such  a  pun,  —  so  sadly  false,  too  !  Long  time,  I  fear, 
it  will  be  before  the  Old  School  friends  will  see  eye 
to  eye  with  the  New  School  brethren,  or  us  either; 
for  they  look  upon  us  with  suspicion,  say  we  are  un- 
sound, and  won't  even  exchange  with  us.  Oh,  what 
a  pity  that  all  these  little  places  should  be  so  cut  up ! 
Glad  we  have  n't  any  church  here. 

July  23.  —  This  day's  ride  on  my  faithful  pony,  for 
I  've  forgotten  to  say  that  I  now  own  one  —  price 
forty-five  dollars  —  has  brought  me  to*  Tipton, 
county-seat  of  Cedar  County.  Here  found  Brother 
Alden.  He  has  a  study,  a  little  ground  room 
right  on  the  street,  in  a  "lean-to"  of  a  store,  over 
which  lives  the  family.     Horses  stand  around,  these 


42 


THE    IOWA    BAND 


hot  days,  kicking  the  Hies ;  and  when  he  is  (Hit  the 
pigs  run  in,  unless  he  is  careful  to  shut  the  door. 
Poor  place,  I  should  think,  for  writing  sermons.  Par- 
tition so  thin  that  all  the  store  talk,  especially  when 
the  doors  are  open,  is  plainly  heard. 

It  being  Tuesday  evening,  we  of  course  wished  to 
remember  the  Tuesday  evening  prayer-meeting,  but 
wanted  a  more  private  place  for  it :  so  went  out  in 
search  of  one.  Came  to  a  two-story  log  building  used 
for  a  jail,  which  happened  to  be  empty,  with  the  doors 
open.  Went  up  by  an  outside  stairway  to  the  upper 
room,  and  there,  with  the  moon  sailing  over  the 
prairies,  had  our  meeting;  prayed  for  each  other,  for 
the  brethren,  for  Iowa,  for  home.  Not  exactly  like 
the  old  Andover  meetings  in  the  library,  but  some- 
thing like  them.  Coming  down  again  to  the  groun  1, 
Brother  Alden  looked  up  in  his  queer  way :  "There," 
said  he,  "I  guess  that's  the  first  time  that  old  building 
ever  had  a  prayer  in  it."  Just  as  cheerful  and  funny 
as  ever ;  but  he  is  doing  a  good  work  here,  and  get- 
ting hold  of  the  hearts  of  everybody.  Indeed,  he  is 
becoming  quite  a  bishop  of  the  county.  "The  first 
time  there  was  ever  a  prayer  in  it !"  I  wonder  in  how 
many  places  and  ways  we  shall  do>  the  first  things  for 
Christ  in  this  new  country ! 

July  24.  —  Am  here  in  DeWitt,  a  little  place  with 
a  few  buildings  on  a  big  prairie.  But  how  I  got  here, 
which  way  I  traveled,  I  can't  tell.  I  only  know  that 
in  the  morning  I  gave  myself  up  to  the  pilotage  of  the 


A    DIARY 

[3 


mail-earner.  Soon  after  starting,  he  turned  his  horse 
off  the  road  into  the  prairie,  and  I  followed.  Since 
then  my  head  has  been  in  a  kind  of  a  whirl,  the  points 
of  the  compass  lost;  and  I  can  <,nlv  think  of  prairie- 
grass,  bottom-lands,  sloughs,  a  river  forded,  a  cabin 
or  two  by  the  way,  and  little  groves  here  and  there 
all  jumbled  up  together.  But  I  am  here!  Looking 
at  the  map,  I  reason  myself  into  the  belief  that  I  have 
really  traveled  from  Tipton  to  DeWitt.  Here  is 
where  Brother  Emerson  lives,  a  man  whom  I  have 
long  wished  to  see.  It  was  his  account,  in  '-The 
Home  Missionary,"  of  the  manner  in  which  a  gang  of 
horse-thieves  was  broken  up  at  Bellvue,  that  turned 
my  attention  to  Iowa.  Somehow  I  then  felt  that  there 
was  work  to  he  done  in  such  a  country,  and  that  I 
would  like  to  lahor  near  such  a  man  ;  and  here  I  am 
at  his  home.  He  is  a  whole-souled,  earnest  brother, 
and  takes  you  right  in.  No  danger,  I  guess,  that  we 
and  those  who  were  on  the  ground  hefore  us  will  not 
feel  as  one. 

One  good  thing  about  this  trip  is  to  get  acquainted 
with  the  older  brethren,  to  see  the  different  fields,  to 
know  what  the  land  is.  Brother  Emerson  says' he 
located  here  because  it  was  so  central.  If  this  is  a 
center,  there  is  no  trouble  in  finding  a  similar  one  on 
any  of  these  big  prairies. 

My  26. —  Came  up  to-day  to  Maquoketa,  where  I 
expected  to  find  Brother  Salter.  Learning  that  he 
was  absent,  having  gone  north,  came  on  up  through 


44  THE    IOWA    BAND 

Andrew,  a  little  stumpy  town  in  the  woods,  to  this 
place,  Cottonville,  the  home  of  Deacon  Cotton.  So 
I  am  the  guest,  to-night,  of  one  of  the  direct  descend- 
ants of  old  John  Cotton  of  Puritan  memory,  in  this 
far-off  Iowa ;  and  a  nice  old  man  he  is.  Before  leav- 
ing the  East,  an  old  Christian  lady,  a  mother  in  Israel, 
learning  I  was  going  to  Iowa,  came,  saying  that  she 
had  a  son-in-law  in  Iowa  for  whom  she  felt  greatly 
concerned,  and  gave  me  his  address,  with  the  injunc- 
tion, if  I  ever  went  near  him,  to  go  and  see  him,  and 
do  him  all  the  good  I  could.  I  took  the  address, 
never  expecting  really  to  go  near  him,  but  find  that 
to-day  I  have  passed  right  by  his  door.  Sorry  I  had 
not  kept  it  more  in  my  mind.  This  impresses  me 
more  than  ever  with  one  feature  of  the  mission  work ; 
it  is,  to  do  here,  among  the  scattered  people,  what  the 
Eastern  fathers  and  mothers,  brothers  and  sisters,  are 
contributing,  longing  and  praying  to  have  done.  I 
must  be  more  careful. 

Deacon  Cotton  says  Brother  Salter  has  taken  a  trip 
up  into'  Wisconsin,  about  Potosi ;  that  he  is  inclined 
to  think  he  will  not  stay  in  this  field  long.  Hope  he 
won't  leave  Iowa :  I  '11  find  him  if  I  can. 

July  27.  —  Am  up  now  as  far  as  Dubuque.  Here  is 
where  really  the  first  white  man  crossed  the  river  to 
dwell.  He  had  a  grant  from  government  to  trade  in 
this  mining  region  with  the  Indians.  The  place  takes 
his  name ;  and  the  whole  region  is  honeycombed  with 
the    miners'    diggings.       Great    fortunes    have    been 


A    DIARY 


45 


made  ;  hut  many  a  splendid  prospect  fails.  So  it  is 
in  all  things  else.  Some  say  that  if  all  the  labor  ex- 
pended in  digging-  for  lead  had  been  expended 
upon  the  surface  of  the  ground,  about  six  inches 
deep,  the  people  generally  would-  be  better  off. 
However  this  may  be,  a  "right  smart  town"  of  a  few 
hundred  people  is  here.  Brother  Holbrook  preaches 
here,  and  has,  I  am  told,  great  influence.  He  is  away 
now  at  the  East  to  get  funds  towards  repairing  the 
church.  It  needs  it ;  for  it  is  a  stone  building  with 
bare,  unplastered  walls  inside.  Yet  it  is  the  only  house 
of  worship  built  expressly  for  this  object  that  we  have 
in  the  Territory.  By  urgent  solicitation  of  the  breth- 
ren, am  to  spend  the  Sabbath  here. 

July  31.  —  Up,  up,  still  farther  north,  here  at  Jack- 
sonville (now  Garnavillo),  the  county-seat  of  Clayton 
County.  I  have  now  traversed  northward,  on  my 
horseback  trip,  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles. 
Since  leaving  Dubuque  I  have  been  so  tossed  about 
that  I  could  not  use  my  diary :  so  I  must  write  up  a 
little. 

Started  on  Monday  morning  in  search  of  Brother 
Salter.  Came  up  to  Potosi  Landing.  There  crossing 
the  river,  soon  got  on  his  track,  and  after  inquiring 
for  him  from  house  to  house,  found  him  at  last,  doing 
good  mission  work  among  the  people.  It  was  truly 
a  surprise-meeting.  Glad  to  learn  that  he  was  true  to 
Iowa,  and  was  to  return  soon  to  his  field.  Stayed  with 
him  that  night  in  a  neat  log  cabin  of  some  young  mar- 


46  THE    IOWA    BAND 

ried  people,  who  said  they  were  from  Maine.  Might 
have  known  they  were  from  Yankee-land,  if  they 
had  n't  told  us,  by  the  morning-glories  around  the 
door  and  the  general  air  of  things  in  and  around  the 
cabin.  There  will  be  a  good  house  there  some  time, 
and  a  Christian  home,  too,  I  trust. 

Next  day,  about  noon,  crossed  back  again  into  this 
best  part  of  the  world,  on  the  flatboat  ferry  at  Cass- 
ville  Landing,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Turkey  River.  That 
afternoon  had  quite  a  time.  I  was  on  the  south  side 
of  the  river,  and  the  first  ford  was  ten  miles  up  stream, 
the  track  leading  for  the  most  part  through  a  hilly 
forest.  From  recent  rains,  the  river  was  much  swol- 
len, making,  by  backwater,  every  stream  putting  into 
it  impassable  at  the  mouth:  so  my  work  that  after- 
noon was  principally  heading  those  streams.  It  was 
in  one  of  these,  as  I  urged  my  horse  down  a  steep 
bank  into1  deeper  water  than  I  supposed,  that  I  was 
thrown  full  length,  when  saddle-bags,  sermons  and 
papers  went  floating.  Fortunately  I  gathered  them 
all  up,  and  came  on.  Reached  the  ferry  near  night, 
where  the  ferryman  swam  my  horse  for  me,  and  took 
me  over  in  a  canoe.  I  was  then  twelve  miles  from  this 
place,  and  started  on  with  quickened  speed.  Just  as 
it  was  getting  dark,  as  I  was  querying  whether  or  no 
I  could  keep  the  road,  my  horse  turned  into  a  by-path, 
and  shot  around  a  clump  of  bushes  with  a  will. 
Thinking  he  must  have  some  intent  in  this,  I  gave 
him  the  rein.       In  about  five  minutes  he  took  me 


A    DIARY  47 

up  to  a  fence  and  a  light.  There  I  stopped  for  the 
night. 

It  was  the  cabin  of  an  old  sea-captain.  Captain  Reed. 
His  wife,  for  years  a  praying  Christian  woman,  in 
poor  health,  and  somewhat  deaf,  was  once  a  member 
of  Father  Kent's  church  in  Galena,  Illinois,  but  now  is 
living  away  alone,  as  a  sheep  in  the  wilderness.  On 
learning  I  was  a  minister,  she  was  greatly  rejoiced. 
We  talked ;  she  told  me  much  of  her  history  and  ex- 
perience ;  we  read  the  Bible ;  we  prayed.  I  stopped 
that  night  in  the  house  of  the  Lord.  In  the  morning 
she  thanked  me  over  and  over  for  the  good  she  re- 
ceived ;  but  I  felt,  and  feel  now,  that  she  did  me  far 
more  good  than  I  did  her.  Experience,  with  the 
chastenings  of  the  Lord,  confers  that  which  seminaries 
and  colleges  can  never  give.  We  come  out  here  to 
preach  ;  but  there  are  those  who  preach  to  us  more 
effectively  than  we  to  them. 

That  day  I  came  to  this  place.  Here  are  Brother 
Hill  and  wife.  The  settlement  is  on  a  beautiful  prairie 
ridge,  and  there  are  many  fine  families  here.  Brother 
Hill  and  wife  are  boarding  at  present,  and  have  before 
them  a  fine  field.  He  enters  it  with  his  usual  staid, 
steady  tread  ;  but  she  throws  herself  into  it  with  the 
enthusiasm  of  her  whole  soul.  Long  may  they  live 
to  labor  here!  The  next  place  north,  they  say,  is 
Sodom,  and  then  the  Indians  :  so  I  guess  I'll  turn  back. 

From  this  point,  our  tourist,  on  his  return,  retraces 


48  THE    IOWA    BAND 

pretty  much  the  path  by  which  he  came;  so  that  we 
find  in  his  diary  nothing  of  new  interest  until  he 
comes  down  to  Davenport,  on  the  Mississippi.  Here 
we  quote  as  follows  :  — 

Aug.  10.  —  Came  down  to  this  place  to-day,  from 
DeWitt.  Of  all  the  rivers  in  the  territory,  and  I  be- 
lieve now  I  have  seen  them  all,  I  think  theWapsipini- 
con  is  the  worst.  Such  ugly  bottom-lands,  and,  in- 
deed, such  sloughs  as  I  have  had  all  day  long!  A 
hard  ride:  but  I  find  here  a  beautiful  place,  the  most' 
beautiful  natural  location  on  the  Mississippi,  some 
say;  and  I  know  of  none  that  excels  it.  There  are 
here  about  five  hundred  people.  I  have  heard  the 
place  spoken  of  as  a  good  location  for  a  college. 
I  see  nothing  to  the  contrary.  There  is  certainly 
beauty  of  scenery.  Probably  it  will  not  be  much  of 
a  point  for  business  ;  and  a  literary  institution  with 
such  surroundings  would  attract  a  class  of  people 
congenial  to  itself.  Here  I  am  the  guest  of  a  new  ac- 
quaintance, Brother  Hitchcock,  who  preaches  here.  I 
believe,  though,  he  is  to  leave  before  long  to  go  to 
Moline,  Illinois,  a  new  village  just  starting  on  the 
other  side  of  the  river,  three  miles  above  Rock  Island. 
I  am  to  spend  the  Sabbath  here,  and  shall  be  glad  of 
the  rest.  I  am  getting  about  enough  of  travel.  As 
to  clothes,  between  the  excessive  rains,  hot  sun  and 
horseback  wear,  they  are  beginning  to  look  pretty 
rusty. 


A    DIARY  49 

Monday  Morning,  Aug.  12,  1844.  —  Preached  yes- 
terday in  the  forenoon  for  the  Congregationalists  in 
a  little  building  put  up  for  a  dwelling-house,  and  now 
used  for  a  schoolhouse,  situated  on  what  is  known  as 
Ditch  Street :  twelve  hearers.  They  are  building, 
however,  a  neat  little  church,  about  twenty-eight  by 
thirty-eight,  on  which  I  see  that  Brother  H.  works 
daily.  Wonder  if  this  is  the  way,  when  it  comes  to 
church-building,  that  the  minister  has  to  turn  in  as 
head  carpenter  to  "boss  the  job !"  In  the  afternoon 
yesterday,  by  invitation,  preached  for  the  Baptists. 
In  the  course  of  the  sermon  was  a  little  vexed  as  I 
noticed  two  ladies  smiling  at  some  holes  in  my  coat- 
sleeve,  revealed  by  my  gesturing.  Drew  down  my 
arms,  and  their  faces,  too,  by  preaching  straight  at 
them.  Perhaps,  on  this  account,  I  preached  with 
more  point  and  earnestness  than  usual ;  for  after 
meeting  an  Old  School  Presbyterian  said  he  would 
give  five  dollars  if  I  would  stop  and  preach  a  year  in 
the  place.  Felt  it  quite  a  compliment,  considering  the 
source. 

Aug.  13. —  At  Bloomington.1"  The  greatest  effort 
at  town  building  this.  From  four  to  six  hundred  peo- 
ple here  are  pitched  into  gullies,  and  tossed  about  on 
the  hills.  But  here  I  have  a  hearty  welcome  by 
Brother  Robbins  and  wife.  They  are  getting  ahead  of 
all  the  rest  by  a  little  new-comer  to  their  household. 
Mrs.   Robbins  laughs  at  the  bachelor  brethren,  and 

"  Now  Muscatine. 


50  THE    10W A    BAMD 

pretends  to  have  such  a  care  of  them.  Materials  here 
for  a  good  church  ;  and,  if  the  place  ever  is  anything, 
no  doubt  there  will  be  a  good  one. 

Aug.  16.  —  At  Burlington.  Have  been  here  before 
quite  frequently.  Nothing  specially  new  now. 
Brother  Hutchinson  is  working  away  quite  hopefully, 
though  his  health  is  not  very  firm.  Nothing  new,  I 
say?  —  yes,  there  is  one  thing  new,  in  the  shape  of  an 
utterance  of  one  Rev.  Mr.  White,  a  Cumberland  Pres- 
byterian minister,  in  a  piece  published  in  the  paper, 
to  which  Brother  Hutchinson  called  my  attention.  It 
is  so  modest,  I  must  put  it  down  as  so  much  his- 
tory :  — 

"Observation  has  taught  me  that  many  honest  per- 
sons have  heard  Iowa  misrepresented.  So  far  from 
being  a  land  of  heathens,  it  is  becoming  densely  pop- 
ulated by  people  of  intelligence,  from  not  only  differ 
ent  parts  of  the  United  States,  but  of  the  Eastern  and 
Western  Continents.  The  people  are  able  to  support 
their  ministers ;  and  it  is  an  insult  offered  to  their  in- 
telligence to  have  men  stationed  in  their  largest 
towns  and  villages,  who  receive  from  one  to  four  hun- 
dred dollars  per  annum  to  instruct  the  brethren. 
Iowa  is  an  unhealthy  climate  for  theological  dwarfs. 
Ministers  are  needed  who  have  clear  heads,  warm 
hearts ;  whose  sentences  breathe,  and  whose  words 
burn." 

O  Brother  W. !  you,  then,  must  be  one  of  the  kind 
needed ;  for  your  sentences  breathe,  and  your  words 


A    DIARY  51 

burn.  We  have  heard  of  similar  utterances  made  by 
unbelievers,  especially  by  one  of  the  leading  judges'3 
of  the  territory  when  we  came  into  it ;  but  little  did 
we  expect  that  gospel  ministers  would  join  in  the  cry. 
The  judge,  however,  apologized,  as  he  found  one  of 
our  number1 '  coming  to  be  his  next-door  neighbor. 
Wonder  if  you  ever  will ! 

Aug.  17.  —  At  Denmark.  This  is  a  kind  of  a  home 
for  us  all ;  and  I  thought  I  would  come  over  here  to 
rest  a  little  before  going  back  to  my  field.  I  have  cer- 
tainly taken  quite  a  tour,  and  am  glad  of  it.  I  have 
seen  the  brethren,  seen  their  homes,  know  the  coun- 
try, and  trust  I  shall  work  the  more  heartily.'' 

u  Judge  Joseph  Williams  of  Bloomington  (now  Muscatine);  a  good  Metho- 
dist, not  an  unbeliever. 
14  Bro.  Robbins. 
'"  XoteS. 


CHAPTER    IX 

THEN     AND     NOW 

I  T  is  by  no  means  proposed,  in  what  follows,  to  give 
1  a  connected  history  either  of  the  Iowa  Band  or 
Iowa  Missions  for  the  last  twenty-five  vears.  We 
seek  only  to  review  a  scene  here  and  there,  and  pnt 
on  record  a  few  facts,  which,  while  of  interest  to  par- 
ties concerned,  may  stand  to  the  credit  of  the  great 
home  missionary  work.  If  but  a  glimpse  of  home 
missionary  life  can  be  presented,  especially  of  its 
inner  view,  with  its  joys  yet  not  without  its  sorrows, 
our  young  men  preparing  for  or  entering  the  minis- 
try, we  are  sure,  will  be  attracted  rather  than  repelled 
by  it.  If  we  can  hold  up  a  few  clusters  gathered  as 
the  fruits  of  home  missions  in  Iowa,  it  may  encourage 
and  stimulate  all  workers  in  this  noble  cause  to  push 
it  onward  with  increasing  vigor  wherever  there  re- 
maineth  land  yet  to  be  possessed. 

As  preparatory  to  what  is  now  proposed,  nothing, 
perhaps,  will  serve  better  than  to  contrast  the  Iowa 
of  twenty-five  years  ago  with  the  Iowa  of  to-day.  By 
this  view  of  the  "then  and  now,"  unfolding,  as  it  must, 
the  nature  of  the  field  occupied  and  the  changes 
wrought,  we  can  better  appreciate  the  causes  at  work. 

52 


THEN    AND    NOW 


53 


But  going-  back  twenty-five  years  brings  us  so  near 
the  beginning  of  all  Iowa  history,  that  a  word  or  two 
of  the  prior  period  may  not  be  amiss. 

From  1843,  vve  S°  back  but  ten  years  to  find  the  first 
settlement  of  the  state.  This  was  June  1,  1833.  Be- 
fore that  date,  no  white  man  had  resided  within  its 
limits  except  the  Indian  traders  and  their  depend- 
ents, and  a  few  who  crossed  the  Mississippi  in  defi- 
ance of  all  treaties. 

Of  those  who  have  labored  here  in  the  gospel,  prob- 
ably the  first  Congregational  minister  whose  privi- 
lege it  was  to  look  over  into  this  promised  land  was 
the  Rev.  J.  A.  Reed.  He  saw  it  as  early  as  May,  1833. 
His  point  of  observation  was  a  town  site  in  Illinois, 
called  Commerce,  consisting  then  of  one  log  cabin 
and  a  cornfield,  since  known  as  Nauvoo.  His  eye 
could  just  distinguish  bluffs  and  prairie,  with  timber- 
skirted  streams.  Gazing  on  the  prospect,  his  reflec- 
tion was,  that  the  land  before  him,  all  the  way  to  the 
Pacific,  was  the  abode  only  of  savages.  All  seemed 
buried,  as  for  ages,  in  the  silence  and  sleep  of  savage 
life. 

During  the  first  ten  years  of  Iowa  history,  between 
1833  an(l  l&43<  tne  only  portion  of  the  state  open  for 
settlement  was  a  strip  of  country  about  forty  miles 
wide  and  two  hundred  miles  long,  on  the  western 
bank  of  the  Mississippi.  So  far  out  was  this  on  the 
frontier,  on  the  very  borders  of  the  Indian  country, 
and     so     much     good    land    was    there    unoccupied 


54  THE    IOWA    BAND 

and  easier  of  access  between  it  and  the  older  set- 
tlements of  what  was  then  the  West,  that  its  pop- 
ulation at  first  increased  but  slowly.  In  1838,  five 
years  after  its  settlement  began,  the  population  of  the 
territory  numbered  but  22,859. 

Prior  to  July  4,  1838,  Iowa  was  included  in  the  terri- 
torial government,  first  of  Michigan  and  then  of 
Wisconsin.  At  this  date  its  own  government  was 
established,  embracing  in  its  limits  the  most  of  what 
is  now  Minnesota  and  Dakota.  Its  present  bounda- 
ries were  established  when  it  was  admitted  into  the 
Union  as  a  state,  in  1846.  In  1840,  its  population 
had  reached  42,500.  In  these  first  years  the  country 
was  but  little  developed.  Pioneer  hardships  and  pri- 
vations were  the  common  experience  of  the  people. 
These  were  times  in  which  the  brethren  tell  of  letters 
lying  in  the  post-office  for  want  of  money  possessed, 
or  to  be  borrowed,  with  which  to  pay  postage. 

The  religious  condition  of  the  people  near  the  close 
of  this  first  ten  years,  as  near  as  August,  1842,  is  in- 
dicated by  the  statements  of  a  writer  in  "The  Home 
Missionary"  of  that  period.  He  puts  down  the  num- 
ber of  ministers  in  the  Territory,  of  all  denominations, 
as  42,  and  the  number  of  professing  Christians  as 
2,133.  "Suppose,"  he  says,  "that  ten  times  this  num- 
ber, or  21,330,  come  under  the  stated  or  transient  in- 
fluence of  the  preached  gospel,  you  have  yet  the  as- 
tounding fact  that  there  are  38,070  souls  in  the  terri- 
tory destitute  of  the  means  of  grace,  a  large  portion 


THEN  AND   NOW 


55 


of  whom  arc  under  the  withering  blight  of  all  sorts 
of  pernicious  error." 

Among  the  errors  alluded  to  was  Mormonism.  Its 
headquarters  were  at  Xauvoo,  111.  The  town  site 
with  its  one  log  cabin  of  ten  years  ago  hail  now  be- 
come a  city  of  Latter-day  Saints,  claiming  from  six- 
teen to  eighteen  thousand  people.  All  the  males  were 
under  military  drill,  the  men  in  one  division,  and  the 
boys  in  another,  to  the  number,  it  was  said,  of  three 
thousand.  There  was  not  a  school  in  the  place. 
About  this  time  Mormonism  was  sanguine.  Its  apos- 
tles were  everywhere,  traversing  the  new  settlements 
with  a  zeal  and  success  at  once  astonishing  and  alarm- 
ing. 

Infidelity,  too,  was  presenting  a  bold  front  under 
the  leadership  of  Abner  Kneeland,  first  known  in 
Vermont  as  a  Universalist  minister,  afterwards  in 
Boston  as  an  atheist.  He  had  settled  with  a  band  of 
his  followers,  male  and  female,  upon  the  banks  of  the 
Des  Moines,  to  mould,  if  possible,  the  faith  of  the 
new  settlers  by  "substituting,"  as  one  has  said, 
"Paine's  Age  of  Reason,  for  the  family  Bible,  the 
dance  for  the  prayer-meeting,  and  the  holiday  for  the 
Sabbath."  Of  the  ministers  and  Christians  spoken 
of  as  in  the  Territory  near  the  close  of  the  first  ten 
years,  a  very  few  only  were  of  the  Congregational 
order. 

The  first  Congregational  ministers  that  explored 
this  field  were  the  Rey,    Asa    Turner   and    the    Rev. 


56  THE    IOWA    BAND 

William  Kirby.  This  they  did  in  May,  1836.  They 
found,  as  the  principal  settlements,  Fort  Madison, 
Burlington,  Farmington,  Yellow  Springs,  Davenport 
and  Pleasant  Valley.  Had  they  continued  their  tour 
northward  far  enough,  they  would  have  found  Du- 
buque, with  some .  other  little  settlements  scattered 
here  and  there. 

The  first  resident  Congregational  minister  in  the 
state  was  the  Rev.  W.  A.  Apthorp,  who  came  in  the 
fall  of  1836.  He  preached  for  a  year  or  two,  mostly 
at  Fort  Madison  and  Denmark.  At  Denmark,  the 
first  Congregational  church  in  Iowa  was  formed, 
May  5,  1838.  The  ministers  present  were  Messrs. 
Turner,  Reed  and  Apthorp.  Denmark  was  then 
about  two  years  old,  with  a  few  log  cabins  and  a 
frame  building,  twenty  by  twenty-four,  which  served 
as  a  schoolhouse  and  meeting-house,  partly  finished. 
The  church  was  organized  with  thirty-two  members. 
Every  New  England  state  but  one  was  represented 
in  it.  Immediately  on  the  organization  of  the  church, 
Mr.  Turner  was  invited  to  take  charge  of  it ;  and  the 
invitation  was,  after  a  few  weeks,  accepted.  Mr.  Ap- 
thorp was  soon  called  to  Illinois,  and  Mr.  Turner  was 
left  the  only  Congregational  minister  in  the  state. 
So  intimately  connected  with  the  history  of  our 
churches  in  after  years  did  the  church  at  Denmark 
and  its  pastor  become,  that  Denmark  is  regarded  as 
the  cradle  of  Congregationalism  in  Iowa ;  and  to  the 
revered  pastor  who  so  long  labored  there,  the  Iowa 


THEX  AND  XOW 


57 


ministry  have  given,  by  common  consent,  the  appella- 
tion of  "Father  Turner." 

lie  did  not  long  stand  alone.  (  )thers  came  to  his 
help,  hut  not  enough  to  supply  the  wants  of  even  the 
slowly  developing  country  around  them.  In  a  few- 
years,  the  population  began  to  increase  more  rapidly. 
The  openings  for  labor  became  more  numerous,  but 
the  men  to  occupy  the  new  fields  came  not.  These 
were  weary  years,  in  which  the  few  brethren  here  ex- 
plored the  field,  reported  its  wants,  and  then  labored 
on  without  reenforcement.  This  they  did  till  hope 
deferred  not  only  made  the  heart  sick,  but  made  them 
almost  despair.  But  at  last,  as  we  have  seen,  help 
came. 

Twenty-five  years  ago,  what  is  now  the  state  of 
Iowa  was  a  territory,  whose  scattered  settlements  were 
mostly  confined  to  the  narrow  strip  of  country  before 
mentioned.  The  northern  and  western  portions  of  it 
were  still  in  the  possession  of  the  Indians.  It  was  only 
a  little  farther  west,  about  the  center  of  the  state, 
that  the  Indian  title  was  extinguished  in  October, 
1843.  Xow  the  state  stretches  from  the  Mississippi 
to  the  Missouri,  taking  in  a  belt  of  land  measuring 
from  north  to  south  nearly  three  hundred  miles. 
Traversing  the  eastern  portion  of  it  are  five  noble 
rivers,  nearly  equidistant  from  and  parallel  to  each 
other,  running  in  a  south-easterly  direction  to  the 
Mississippi';  while  on  the  western  slope  of  the  state 
are  other  rivers,  with  their  tributaries,  tending  to  the 
Missouri, 


5 8  THE    IOWA    BAND 

With  this  area  of  fifty-five  thousand  square  miles, 
situated  in  the  very  heart  of  our  country,  embracing 
a  variety  of  climate,  bounded  and  intersected  by  the 
noblest  rivers  of  the  continent,  Iowa  is  equal  to  any 
of  her  sister  states  in  the  richness  of  her  soil,  and 
more  favored  than  some  of  them  in  the  extent  of  her 
forests.  Her  water-courses  abound  with  facilities  for 
the  manufacturer.  Her  mines  of  lead  and  coal  and 
her  quarries  of  marble  are  exhaustless  sources  of 
wealth.  It  is  indeed  a  goodly  land :  so  the  thousands 
who  have  found  a  home  on  its  soil  have  esteemed  it. 

The  growth  of  its  population,  though  slow  at  first, 
has  in  later  years  been  truly  wonderful.  In  1843, 
there  were  but  about  seventy  thousand  people  in  the 
state ;  now  there  are  over  a  million.  In  cities  where 
then  there  were  but  a  few  hundreds,  now  there  are 
thousands,  and  in  some  cases  tens  of  thousands. 
Twenty-five  years  ago,  a  father  in  the  ministry  was 
calling  with  one  of  the  Band  on  a  family  near  the 
field  of  his  labor.  Wishing  to  impress  both  the  family 
and  the  youthful  minister  with  the  grandeur  of  the 
Christian  work  in  a  new  country,  he  remarked  on 
this  wise  :  "I  have  no  doubt  that  the  day  will  come, 
some  time,  that,  within  a  region  of  ten  miles  around 
the  place  where  we  now  stand,  there  will  be  as  many 
as  ten  thousand  people."  The  prophecy  at  the  time 
seemed  almost  startling,"5  but  that  family  is  still  living 
where  they  then  were;  and,  within  the  region  alluded 

»«  >Jote~9. 


/7//-..V   .ixn  xoir 


59 


to,  the  people  now  arc  numbered  by  more  than  three 
times  ten  thousand,  while  the  two  ministers  are  still 
living,  the  older  and  the  younger  beholding  in  won- 
der the  advancing  growth. 

Meantime,  as  might  be  expected,  the  development 
of  the  state  as  a  whole  has  been  wonderful.  The  Iowa 
of  to-day  rivals  many  an  older  state  in  agricultural 
and  mechanical  productions ;  while  her  coal-beds  and 
her  quarries  are  proving  sources  of  unexpected 
wealth,  and  her  mines  of  lead  show  no  signs  of  ex- 
haustion. Her  advance  in  all  the  arts  and  achiev:- 
ments  of  civilized  life  has  been  rapid.  There  is  no 
better  index,  perhaps,  of  the  development  of  a  coun- 
try than  its  facilities  of  travel,  and,  especially  in  these 
latter  days,  the  number  and  location  of  its  railroads. 
A  glance  shows  how  marked  has  been  the  progress 
in  this  respect. 

Twenty-five  years  ago  the  nearest  approach  by  rail 
from  the  East  was  the  city  of  Buffalo.  Travelers  that 
would  see  the  then  Far  West,  just  opening  on  this, 
the  farther  side  of  the  Mississippi,  were  compelled 
for  the  most  part  to  cross  over  in  skiffs,  flat-boats 
or  horse-boats.  At  one  point  only  was  there  a  steam- 
ferry.  The  mode  of  travel  then  was  mostly  on  foot 
or  horseback,  guided  often  by  Indian  trails  or  blazed 
trees.  Bridgeless  streams  and  sometimes  bottomless 
sloughs  were  to  be  crossed. 

Many  are  the  incidents  and  adventures  which  the 
members  of  the  Band  and  the  older  ministers  have  to 


60  THE    IOIVA    BAND 

recount  to  their  children  and  to  one  another  of  the 
days  in  one  sense  so  recent,  in  another  so  long  ago, 
as  they  speak  of  their  early  explorations  in  looking 
over  their  fields  and  hunting  up  the  people.  But 
these  things  have  passed.  Railroads  have  come.  No 
less  than  five  railroad-bridges  across  the  Mississippi 
are,  or  are  being,  constructed,  over  which  the  iron 
horse  comes  to  find  here  a  fresh  pasture-ground  for 
his  wide  roaming.  From  these  five  points  start  five 
main  roads,  crossing  the  state  from  east  to  west. 
Like  her  five  principal  rivers,  they  are  about  equi- 
distant from,  and  in  the  main  parallel  to,  each  other. 
Two  of  them  already  form  the  Iowa  links  in  the  great 
Pacific  route,  and  others  are  pressing  on.  Mean- 
time, from  north  to  south,  roads  are  projected,  and 
parts  of  them  completed ;  giving  promise,  at  no  dis- 
tant day,  of  a  railroad  system  at  once  complete  and 
adequate.  In  the  aggregate,  about  fourteen  hundred 
miles  of  railroad  are  already  in  operation,  —  an  ex- 
tent nearly  if  not  quite  equal  to  all  the  railroads  in 
the  whole  country  twenty-five  years  ago.  The  whis- 
tle of  the  engine  is  fast  becoming  a  familiar  sound  to 
the  children  of  Iowa. 

The  rivers,  of  course,  have  been  bridged,  and  car- 
riage-roads have  been  made,  as  the  necessities  of  the 
people  have  required.  Twenty-five  years  ago  the 
only  public  buildings  of  Iowa  were  a  rickety  peniten- 
tiary and  a  very  ordinary  State  House  :  now,  all  over 
the  state  are  scattered  her  public  institutions  of  all 


THEN    AND    NOW  6j 

sorts,  —  homes  for  the  orphan,  asylums  for  the  blind, 
the  insane,  and  the  deaf  and  dumb.  Her  present 
Capitol"  stands  in  a  city  claiming-  a  population  of  fif- 
teen thousand,  where,  at  the  coming-  of  the  Hand, 
there  was  but  a  fort,  seldom  reached,  so  far  was  it  in 
the  heart  of  the  Indian  country. 

In  addition  to  her  State  University,  whose  annual 
income  exceeds  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  her 
Agricultural  College  generously  endowed,  and  a  sys 
tern  of  common  schools  magnificently  provided  for. 
there  are,  among  her  citizens,  schools  and  colleges 
established  by  Christian  enterprise,  already  standing 
high  among  the  best  institutions  of  the  land. 

Thus,  as  by  magic,  in  a  few  years  has  the  wilderness 
been  peopled.  That  profound  sleep  in  which,  when 
the  first  Congregational  minister  gazed  upon  ir,  the 
whole  region  seemed  wrapped,  has  been  broken. 
Towns,  villages,  cities,  have  sprung  up,  where,  but 
a  little  while  ago,  no  trace  of  civilization  was  visible. 
With  all  this  growth,  giving  life  and  vitality  to  it, 
have  sprung  up  churches  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
We  will  not  speak  of  these  now ;  but,  when  in  the 
proper  place  we  do,  we  shall  find  that  here  the  tens 
have  given  place  to  hundreds,  and  the  hundreds  to 
thousands. 

Twenty-five  years  ago  Iowa  was  almost  unknown, 
and  its  character  a  blank  ;  now  its  fame  is  at  once 
world-wide  and  enviable.     Then  it  was  only  a  frontier 

17  Des  Moines,  whose  population  now  is  over  6vOoo. 


62  THE    IOWA    BAND 

territory,  containing,  in  the  eye  of  the  nation,  but  a 
few  scattered  homes  of  wild  adventurers :  now  it  is  a 
state,  and  a  state,  too,  of  no  mean  rank  in  the  center 
of  states.  Welcoming  to  her  soil,  from  the  first,  the 
principles  of  education,  liberty  and  religion  that  have 
traveled  westward  from  the  land  of  the  Pilgrims ; 
sending  them,  in  due  time,  to  the  opening  plains  of 
Kansas  and  Nebraska ;  saying  to  the  dark  spirit  of 
the  South,  that  was  ever  struggling  to  press  its  way 
northward,  "Thus  far  and  no  farther ;"  joining  hands, 
in  the  meantime,  with  her  sister  states  of  the  North 
and  the  Northwest  in  a  friendly  rivalry  to  develop 
and  protect  every  noble  interest  and  true,  —  she 
stands  forth  with  the  proud  inscription  already  on  her 
brow,  "The  Massachusetts  of  the  West,"  —  an  in- 
scription placed  there,  not  as  in  self-glorifying,  by  her 
own  sons,  but  by  friends  abroad,  -as  they  have  seen 
the  freedom  of  her  people,  her  schools  and  her 
churches,  watched  the  integrity  and  wisdom  of  her 
legislators,  felt  her  power  in  the  councils  of  the  nation, 
and  especially  as  they  have  marked  her  noble  record 
in  the  hour  of  the  nation's  peril. 

She  was  ever  prompt  with  her  full  quota  of  men 
and  means,  and  ever  mindful  of  her  soldiers  in  the 
field  and  their  families  at  home.  Of  all  her  sister 
states,  none  were  more  lavish  in  these  respects  than 
she ;  and  yet  she  was  the  only  one  of  them  all  to  come 
out  at  the  close  of  the  war  with  her  liabilities  can- 
celed, and  free  of  debt.     Nor  has  she  since  been  tin- 


THEN    AND    NOW  63 

true  to  the  character  then  earned:  she  has  made  the 
path  of  freedom  broad  enough  to  include  all  her  cit- 
izens ;  and,  in  every  case  in  which  these  United  States 
have  been  called  to  pronounce  upon  any  of  the  issues 
of  the  times,  she  has  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  on 
the  side  of  progress  with  the  noblest  of  them  all. 
Such  is  the  Iowa  of  to-day.  Looking  at  things  as  they 
now  are,  we  can  hardly  believe  that  they  are  the  out- 
growth of  the  things  few  and  feeble  of  twenty-five 
vears  ago.  But  so  it  is.  There  have  been  causes  for 
this.     Where  and  what  are  they? 


CHAPTER    X 

THE    WORKERS 

THE  growth  of  a  state,  free  and  mighty,  as  are 
these  states  of  the  Northwest,  is  a  grand  event. 
It  stands  forth  as  the  result,  not  of  one  cause,  but  of 
a  thousand.  Prominent  among  them,  to  say  the  least, 
is  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  message  of  God  to 
man  by  his  Son.  It  is  the  preaching  of  this  gospel, 
with  the  influences  and  institutions  it  includes,  that, 
entering  into  the  individual,  domestic,  social  and 
civil  life,  gives  character  and  prosperity  to  the  state. 
To  prove  a  proposition  like  this  is  no  part  of  the  pres- 
ent object ;  nor,  with  the  history  of  our  country  before 
us,  is  it  needlul.  It  is  to  the  preachers,  teachers  and 
upholders  of  the  gospel  in  Iowa,  we  are  bold  to  affirm, 
that  she  is  in  no  small  degree  indebted  for  what  she  is. 
Somewhat  prominent  among  these  are  the  Con- 
gregational ministers  and  churches  of  the  state.  With 
here  and  there  an  exception,  these  churches  have  all 
felt  the  fostering  care  of  the  American  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society,  —  a  society  which  is  more  than  its 
president,  its  executive  committee  and  its  secretaries. 
Be  it  ours,  then,  in  this  chapter,  to  set  forth  the 
workers  here ;  not  the  home  missionaries  only,  but 

64 


THE    WORKERS  65 

their  helpers  also — all  who  have  given  or  prayed  in  aid 
ot  this  work,  or  sympathized  with  them  in  it.     If  home 

missions  can  show  a  record  of  honor  in  Iowa,  let  the 
honor  be  shared  by  all  who  should  participate  in  it, 
and  let  the  joys  of  it  he  widespread  and  mutual. 

The  grand  central  figure,  however,  around  which 
the  picture  must  he  drawn,  is  the  home  missionary 
himself.  Look  at  him  as  he  is,  or  rather  as  he  was, 
twenty-five  years  ago.  We  have  a  young  man  with- 
out family,  and,  with  possibly  here  and  there  an  ex- 
ception, without  friends,  in  the  new  territory  to  which 
he  has  come.  His  property  inventories  a  few  hooks, 
the  clothes  he  wears,  his  trusty  horse  and  a  debt  at 
the  seminary.  On  a  beautiful  morning,  as  beautiful 
as  the  light,  which  is  glorious,  and  the  air,  which  is 
bracing,  can  make  it,  he  is  riding  out  from  his  home 
over  the  prairies  into  the  surrounding  settlements. 
He  is  in  the  ardor  of  youth,  yet  all  things  just  now 
seem  neither  very  bright,  beautiful  nor  hopeful.  The 
prairies,  at  first  so  fascinating  in  their  novelty,  by 
familiarity  have  grown  tame  and  unattractive.  They 
are  now  actually  dreary,  with  their  verdure  stiffened 
by  the  frosts  of  autumn  or  burned  to  blackness  by 
autumnal  fires.  The  poetry  of  Western  life  and  home 
missionarv  labor  is  fast  changing  to  fact.  The  fires 
of  a  new  experience  are  passing  over  him.  ^  hat 
wonder  now  if  his  ride  be  somewhat  lonely,  and  his 
thoughts  flow  in  a  serious,  almost  saddened,  mood, 
as  he  queries  with  himself, — 


66  THE    IOWA    BAND 

"What  do  I  here?  I  came  here  to  preach,  but 
there  are  no  meeting-houses  and  no  churches.  But 
few  people  care  about  my  coming,  going  or  staying. 
Among  them  all,  who  is  there  to  lean  upon?  Nothing 
is  organized.  The  materials  are  heterogeneous  and 
discordant.  There  are  no  counselors  near,  no  prec- 
edents, no  established  customs.  With  some  denom- 
inations there  are  set  rules  and  directions ;  the  way  is 
marked  out :  this  is  of  some  advantage,  at  least.  Some 
denominations,  too,  are  popular ;  mine  is  not ;  is,  in- 
deed, but  little  known,  and  many  are  prejudiced 
against  it.  I  am  to  work  here  alone.  In  case  of  sick- 
ness or  general  failure  of  health,  what  then?  Foreign 
missionaries  are  provided  for  in  this  respect,  but  home 
missionaries  are  not.  Who  is  so  little  supported  from 
without  as  a  home  missionary?  Who  is  put  so  much 
upon  his  self-reliance?  And  on  whom  does  the  whole 
work  in  which  he  is  so  engaged  hang?  And  now,  an 
inexperienced  youth,  what  do  I  here?  What  is  my 
life-work  to  be?" 

J&jk)h<  from  the  depths  of  how  many  hearts  have  these 
questions  come  up  here  in  Iowa,  and  in  all  the  newer 
missionary  fields  of  the  West !  How  often,  having 
left  home  and  friends,  church-steeples  and  the  sound 
of  church-going  bells,  behind  him,  and  gone  towards 
the  setting  sun  till  he  found  himself  single-handed  and 
alone  on  the  very  frontiers  of  civilization,  has  the 
home  missionary  in  perplexity  asked,  "What  do  I 
here?"    And   how    often    has    the  question  found  an 


THE    IV0RK1-.RS 


67 


answer  in  some  moment  of  loneliness  and  sadness, 
when,  in  the  absence  of  all  human  stays  and  sympa- 
thies, the  soul  has  been  thrown  upon  God,  and,  for 
the  time,  the  whole  being,  the  whole  world  even,  has 
become  as  the  Holy  of  holies,  rilled  with  the  divine 
presence ! 

Then  it  is  seen  that  there  is  work  enough  any- 
where ;  and  there  are  faith  and  courage  to  do  it.  It 
is  thus  that  to  the  lonely  missionary  rider  there 
springs  up  a  light,  and  visions  brighter  than  the 
brightness  of  the  morning.  God  never  seemed  in  his 
fulness  to  fill  all  things  more  than  now  in  the  sur- 
rounding solitudes.  In  a  few  years  he  sees  that  the 
virgin  soil  around  him,  with  as  yet  no  trace  upon  it 
save  here  .and  there  a  bridle-path,  is  to  take  on  the 
fruits  of  husbandly  and  toil ;  homes  are  soon  to  cover 
it ;  the  silent  forest  is  to  be  peopled,  and  the  rivers' 
banks  are  to  be  thronged  with  artisans.  For  the 
people's  need,  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  that  the  land 
may  be  Christ's,  he  sees  that  spiritual  seed  must  here 
be  sown  and  spiritual  harvests  reaped.  "Here,"  he 
exclaims,  "is  my  work  !  With  God  for  my  counselor, 
and  taking  the  customs,  precedents  and  rules  of  his 
Word  for  my  guide,  here  will  I  live  and  labor,  and 
here  will  I  die." 

Yes,  noble  Iowa,  many  are  the  germs  of  life  labor 
that  thus  have  been  set  within  thee!  Out  of  them, 
many  are  the  years  of  patient  toil  and  work  that  have 
been  given  thee  by  those  who  brought  salvation  on 


08  THE    IOWA    BAND 

their  tongues,  whose  feet  trod  the  rude  dwellings  of 
thy  pioneers,  who,  in  the  ruder  schoolhouses,  first 
gathered  thy  children  together  to  teach  them  the 
ways  of  the  Lord,  and  whose  very  lives  have  flowed 
out  into  the  industry,  the  thrift,  the  virtue  and  the  in- 
tegrity of  thy  people.  When  as  a  young  man  thou 
rejoicest  in  thy  strength,  forget  not  by  what  powers 
thy  sinews  have  been  knit,  from  whom,  in  a  measure, 
at  least,  the  currents  of  thy  life  have  been  fed. 

Iowa  owes  a  debt  even  to  the  humble  home  mis- 
sionary :  but  not  to  him  alone,  for  with  him,  in  him 
and  through  him,  she  has  felt  the  power  of  thousands 
besides.  That  missionary  entered  upon  his  work  with 
a  commission,  —  a  businesslike  document,  sending 
him  out,  perhaps,  to  find  a  field,  or  a  place  in  which  to 
make  one ;  drawing  out,  somewhat  in  detail,  the  na- 
ture of  the  duties  enjoined,  with  the  requisition  <  f 
quarterly  reports  to  be  made,  and  the  promise  of  pe- 
cuniary aid  in  a  certain  sum  stipulated :  all  duly 
signed  by  accredited  agents,  —  the  secretaries  of  the 
Home  Missionary  Society.  Accordingly,  laboring 
through  the  months  of  the  first  quarter,  hunting  up 
the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel,  sowing  seed  as 
be  may  beside  all  waters,  with  somewhat  of  trembling 
at  the  little  accomplished,  he  makes  his  first  report, 
and  labors  on. 

In  due  time,  by  the  tri-weekly  or  bi-weekly  mail, 
there  comes  to  him  a  letter  with  the  Society's  imprint, 
— the  first  from  New  York.    The  twenty-five  cents  of 


THE    WORKERS  69 

postage  arc  paid,  and  the  seal  broken.  There  before 
him  is  liis  first   missionary  draft,  —  good,  in  the  old 

times,  as  so  much  gold.  It  seems  to  him  as  almosl 
sacred;  for  whence  comes  it?  Of  the  West  he  has 
heard  from  his  youth.  He  knows  how  the  old  folks 
at  home,  the  fathers  and  the  mothers,  the  brothers 

and  the  sisters,  too.  are  praying  and  giving  for  the 
West :  and  now  he  is  here,  an  almoner  of  their  boun- 
ties. Through  him  is  the  answer  of  their  prayers  to 
find  a  channel ;  a  new  tie  is  felt  between  him  and  them. 

These  are  allies  in  the  work,  recognized  now  as 
never  before.  He  must  be  faithful  at  his  post,  to  the 
duties  of  which  he  commits  himself  with  a  new  conse- 
cration. This  is  not  all.  That  first  letter  is  no  mere 
off-hand  business  note,  with  the  simple  authority  to 
draw  so  much  money.  There  is  appended  a  message 
of  cheer,  of  warm  Christian  greeting  and  encourage- 
ment. That  message  by  the  secretary's  own  pen  is  as 
the  hand-grasp  of  a  friend.  By  it,  henceforth,  the 
youthful  laborer  feels  that  there  are  loving  human 
sympathies  with  him,  as  he  stands  in  this  holy  brother- 
hood of  the  mission  work.  He,  as  a  home  missionary, 
the  secretaries,  the  patrons  of  the  Society,  those  who 
give  and  pray, — all  are  as  one,  and  in  one  work. 

Yes,  ye  donors,  —  ye  men  of  wealth  who  have 
given  your  thousands,  ye  widows  in  Israel  who  have 
brought  your  two  mites,  all  ye  who  have  given  or 
prayed,  —  in  all  the  fruits  of  home  missions  at  the 
West,  vou  are  sharers. 


7o 


THE    IOWA    BAND 


And  you  who  with  noble  hearts  have  stood  be- 
tween the  givers  and  the  workers,  —  allow  us  who 
once  were  young,  and  now  look  back  upon  our  quar- 
ter century  of  labors,  to  give  expression  to  the  debt  of 
gratitude  we  owe  to  you,  and  especially  to  the  senior 
among  you,  then  in  the  prime  of  his  life,  and  still  faith- 
ful at  his  post.  Could  his  brief  messages  of  cheer  in 
missionary  correspondence,  scattered  all  over  Iowa  in 
her  earlier  days,  be  gathered  together,  what  a  volume 
they  would  make  !  Could  it  but  be  seen  what  cour- 
age and  energy  they  inspired,  how  rich  a  reward 
would  there  be  in  it  for  him ! 

We  do  not  wonder  that  our  wives  have  said,  in 
passing  through  the  commercial  metropolis,  that 
"they  would  rather  see  Dr.  Badger's  face  than  any- 
thing else  in  New  York."  Nor  will  we  forget  his 
noble  colleague  of  earlier  days,  now  gone  to  his  re- 
ward. Go  on,  then,  brethren  at  the  Home  Missionary 
Rooms,  in  giving  words  of  cheer.  You  little  know 
what  power  there  is  in  them  sometimes  in  tne  heirls 
of  those  at  the  outposts  of  home  missionary  toil. 

Pass  on  a  few  years  in  the  young  missionary's 
career,  and  look  again.  Like  others,  he  finds  it  not 
good  to  be  alone.  He  takes  a  wife,  begins  a  home. 
Children  are  in  the  household.  The  actual  necessa- 
ries of  life  draw  hard  upon  a  scanty  income.  Some- 
times the  burdens  of  sickness  or  misfortune  are  added. 
In  spite  of  clerical  financiering,  —  and  there  is  no  bet- 
ter in  the  world,  —  things  are  going  hard., 


THE    WORKERS 


71 


But  something  is  rolled  up  to  the  door.  It  is  a 
barrel  or  box ;  nothing'  more,  nothing  less.  Few" 
things  just  now  could  be  more  ;  for  it  is  a  "missionary 
box."  Roll  it  in,  and  take  off  the  cover.  Out  comes 
a  dress  or  a  cloak  ;  here  a  vest,  and  there  a  coat ;  bun- 
dles of  nice,  warm  flannel ;  little  dresses,  little  stock- 
ings and  tiny  shoes,  and  toys  even,  for  the  youngest 
of  the  household  ;  an  old  hat  and  old  bonnets  some- 
times, —  strange  that  such  things  should  be  sent ! 

A  real  relief  is  that  box ;  for  almost  everything  is 
in  it,  —  many  comforts,  and  often  some  luxuries  and 
adornments,  that  make  the  prairie  home  brighter  and 
more  cheerful  for  months.  Winter  may  come  now. 
The  lean,  lank  wallet  may  swell  out  a  little  ;  for  less 
frequent  now  will  be  the  drafts  upon  it.  Real  gala 
scenes  sometimes  attend  the  opening  of  these  boxes, 
when  the  quiet  study  takes  on  the  air  of  a  dry-goods 
room  or  a  clothing-store,  when  each  is  seeking  to 
make  out  a  suit  for  himself,  and  try  it  on. 

Willie,  with  the  cap  adjusted  and  jacket  on,  is  tug- 
ging at  the  shoes,  and  Kate  at  the  stockings,  while 
the  mother  is  busy  with  the  shawl,  gloves,  etc. 

Of  course,  everything  in  the  box  does  not  fit  at 
first,  though  afterwards  generally  made  to  do  so ;  and 
somewhat  grotesque  are  the  figures  arrayed  in  each 
other's  presence,  to  the  merriment  of  all. 

But  hush!  The  articles  are  all  taken  off,  folded 
up,  and  laid  aside  ;  the  little  ones  are  made  to  under- 
stand that  they  are  gifts  from  kind  friends  far  away ; 


72  THE    IOWA     BAND 

and  then  there  is  a  kneeling  down  around  that  box, 
God  is  thanked,  and  blessings  invoked  on  the  donors. 
Nor  is  a  new  consecration  to  the  mission  work  for- 
gotten. 

Yes,  ye  far-off  mothers,  sisters,  ye,  too,  are 
workers  here.  By  the  busy  stitches  that  sewed  these 
garments  together,  not  only  were  your  hearts  knit 
more  closely  to  the  missionary  cause,  but  the  hearts 
of  the  missionaries  were  bound  to  it  more  closely  as 
well.  By  these,  in  part,  have  the  East  and  the  West 
been  drawn  together  in  the  fellowship  of  workers  in 
a  common  Christian  cause.  They  have  also  furnished 
a  few  threads,  at  least,  in  that  web  of  national  sym- 
pathy by  which  the  East  and  the  West  and  the  North 
and  the  South  are  indissolubly  one. 

At  every  step  of  our  young  home  missionary  in  his 
progressive  work,  he  finds  coworkers  in  it.  He  goes 
into  his  little  Sabbath-schools,  presenting  books  and 
pictures  to  a  group  of  children  with  bright  eyes  and 
happy  faces.  They  are  the  gift  of  Eastern  friends. 
As  the  little  flock  of  his  gathering  are  at  the  com- 
munion table,  he  sees  the  pitcher  and  tumbler  giving 
place  to  a  communion  set.  This  comes,  perhaps,  from 
his  own  old  home  church.  In  due  time,  another  point 
is  gained  ;  and  a  happy  day  is  it  when  a  house  of  wor- 
ship is  secured,  —  a  sanctuary  of  God,  a  home  for 
the  church.  Here,  too,  help  has  come  from  abroad. 
How  large  tine  circle,  how  numerous  the  company, 
engaged  in  this  missionary  work  ! 


THE    WORKERS  73 

But  we  must  not  forget  the  missionary's  helpers  in 
the  field.     We  refer  now  not   to  his  brethren  in  the 

ministry  merely,  to  whom  he  is  daily  growing  more 
and  more  attached  by  the  sympathies  of  a  common 
cause  and  service,  but  to  the  faithful  few  he  finds 
among  his  own  little  flock,  and  the  choice  spirits,  also, 
in  the  flocks  of  his  brethren.  Rare  men  and  women 
there  were  and  are  in  these  missionary  churches. 
What  good  days  those  were  of  old,  when  the  brethren 
all  knew  each  other,  and  when  the  churches  knew 
each  other  too,  somewhat ;  when  we  could  travel  over 
all  the  fields,  and  find  a  welcome  everywhere  from 
home  to  home  !  With  such  coworkers  has  our  home 
missionary  labored  on  from  youth  to  age.  Laborers 
have  increased ;  churches  have  multiplied,  and  in 
them  coworkers  not  a  few.  Again  we  say,  in  all  that 
has  been  accomplished,  "honor  to  whom  honor;"  and. 
with  thanks  to  God  for  all,  let  all  rejoice. 


CHAPTER    XI 

RESULTS 

HOW  genial  and  wide-spread,  in  the  spring  and 
summer  time,  are  the  influences  of  sun  and 
showers !  In  autumn  we  gather  in  the  harvests,  and 
reckon  up  their  sum.  But  in  the  multitude  of  bushels 
of  corn  or  wheat,  more  or  less,  have  we  a  measure  of 
what  the  sun  and  showers  have  done?  What  facts 
and  figures  are  of  use  here? 

Like  sun  and  showers  are  gospel  influences  in  a 
state,  as  they  flow  along  the  channels  of  individual, 
domestic  and  social  life.  The  effects  produced  are 
quite  as  much  unseen  as  seen.  They  are  such  as  no 
words  can  compass.  Human  language  cannot  set 
them  forth.  To  attempt,  therefore,  to  point  out,  in 
the  form  of  definite  and  tangible  results,  what  home 
missions  have  done  in  Iowa  may  prejudice  rather 
than  promote  our  object.  It  were  safer,  perhaps,  to 
content  ourselves  with  the  general  impression  given 
from  the  view  we  have  taken  of  the  workers  and  their 
field. 

Nevertheless,  we  will  venture,  as  to  a  few  points, 
upon  a  closer  view ;  yet  so  as  by  the  facts  and  figures 
to  be  reminded  constantly  quite  as  much  of  the  things 

74' 


Beginnings  —  Present  edilii  <■ 
Edwards  Congregational  Church.   Davenport 


RESULTS 


75 


not  told  as  of  those  that  are.     We  will  begin  with  a 

novel  scene,  —  novel  indeed  for  Iowa,  and  rare  even 
for  any  state. 

(  )n  the  [8th  of  November,  1868,  in  Muscatine,  one 
of  the  busy  cities  on  the  hanks  of  the  Mississippi,  there 
was  a  great  gathering  at  the  house  of  a  pastor,  Alden 
B.  Robbins,  one  of  the  Band.  Within  that  modest 
dwelling,  children  had  grown  up  around  him  ;  ahout 
him  now  were  his  flock,  —  parishioners,  friends  and 
neighbors, —  the  largest  social  gathering  the  city  had 
ever  seen.  By  his  side  stood  one,  not  the  first  to 
share  his  joys  and  sorrows  as  wife  and  companion, 
hut  for  many  years  his  helpmeet  indeed,  the  fruitage 
of  whose  exemplary  life  of  prayerful,  earnest  toil  was 
in  the  scene  around  her.  With  him,  too,  were  gath- 
ered a  few  —  here  a  hrother,  and  there  a  sister — of 
those  who.  twenty-five  years  ago,  were  with  him  at 
the  beginning  of  things.  The  silver  wedding  they 
called  it,  and  fitly,  of  pastor  and  people. 

It  was  easy  now  to  speak  of  incidents  and  dates,  to 
call  up  facts  and  figures,  to  set  the  present  member- 
ship  of  the  church  of  two  hundred,  and  the  total  mem- 
bership from  the  beginning  of  three  hundred  and 
fifty-five,  over  against  the  little  band  of  twenty-six; 
who  first  composed  it ;  and  to  set  in  array  the  figures 
showing  the  twenty-four  thousand  dollars  contrib- 
uted to  benevolent  purposes  during  the  last  twenty 
years.  It  was  easy  to  contrast  the  present  house  of 
worship    with   the   first   one    built,  —  the   little    brick 


76  THE    IOWA    BAND 

building  at  the  top  of  the  hill,  among  the  stumps,  in 
the  erection  of  which,  after  pockets  were  empty,  the 
brethren  brought  their  bodies  to  the  work,  with  hod  in 
hand,  carrying  brick  and  mortar. 

It  was  easy  to  go  back  of  this  to  the  old  court-house, 
where  the  meetings  first  were  held,  and  then  to  fill  up 
this  space  of  twenty-five  years  with  pleasing  inci- 
dents of  revival  scenes  recalled,  and  manifold  changes 
wrought.  Easy  indeed  was  all  this,  and  rich  and  rare 
was  the  Book  of  Chronicles  opened  that  night  by  the 
pastor  among  his  people. 

But  all  that  was  said,  all  that  was  thought  or  con- 
ceived of,  by  any  or  all,  —  what  was  it  in  comparison 
with  the  true  history  of  the  twenty-five  years  there 
under  review?  To  give  that  history,  one  must  trace 
the  workings  of  prayers  and  prayer-meetings,  —  even 
those  little  church  prayer-meetings  of  the  olden  times 
there,  held  in  the  afternoon,  because  Deacon  Lucas, 
one  of  the  three  brethren  who  were  to  sustain  them, 
lived  five  miles  out  in  the  country.  He  must  tell  the 
story  of  the  sermons  from  week  to  week  prayed  over, 
studied  and  preached ;  of  the  good  seed  sown,  in  what 
hearts  it  took  root,  and  how  it  grew.  He  must  tell 
how  children  grew  up,  were  trained  and  moulded  by 
church  and  Sabbath-school ;  what  souls  were  born 
into  the  kingdom  of  Christ  in  the  progress  of  the 
years.  He  must  relate  the  history  of  those  souls  in 
their  Christian  development  in  this  world,  and  tell 
how  some  who  have  gone  over  the  river  were  fash- 


IS5S-1S95 


i8q5 
First  Church.  Decorah 


RESULTS 


77 


ioned  and  ripened  for  heaven.     He  must  portra)   the 

•  lays  of  anxiety  and  solicitude  on  the  part  of  both 
pastor  and  people  in  days  of  weakness,  when  thai 
church  was  among  the  little  home  missionary  churches 

of  Iowa.  He  must  show  what  was  the  part  of  each 
and  all  the  home  mission  workers,  who.  by  their  pray- 
ers, labors,  sifts  and  sympathies,  sustained  it.  till, 
by  the  blessing  of  God,  its  liberty  and  Christ-loving 
principles  were  triumphant,  and  it  became  a  tower  of 
strength  among  sister  churches  in  the  state. 

Tint,  if  such  things  as  these  are  to  be  fully  and  truth 
fully  told,  who  is  to  he  the  chronicler?  And  eel 
nothing-  short  of  this,  and  more  than  this,  would  be 
a  complete  history.  Over  and  above  the  few  facts 
and  figures  which  we  can  put  down  in  connection 
with  the  history  of  any  one  church,  as  the  results  of 
home  missions  in  Towa,  there  are  in  the  divine  Mind 
and  as  eternity  will  reveal  them,  other  results  just  as 
definite  and  tangible,  greater,  and  more  in  number. 
To  that  silver-wedding  scene  of  pastor  and  people, 
with  all  its  hallowed  associations  and  precious  mem 
ories,  we  point  as  one  of  our  results.  And  as  with 
this  church,  so  with  others  scattered  over  the  state 
Not  that  each  church  is  as  strong  as  this;  a  few  are  as 
strong  or  stronger;  many  are  weaker.  Nol  that 
every  pastor  can  look  back  upon  his  quarter-century 
labors  in  the  same  field;  but  wherever  churches  have 
been  planted,  and  gospel  ordinances  maintained,  a  like 
process,  as  to  its  general  features,  has  been  going  on. 


78  THE    IOWA    BAND 

We  have  now  reached  a  point  where  figures  begin 
to  be  significant.  When  the  pastor  of  whose  silver  wed- 
ding we  have  spoken  began  to  labor  with  his  little 
home  missionary  church  twenty-five  years  ago,  and 
looked  around  for  his  immediate  allies  and  cowork- 
ers, there  were  in  the  territory,  of  his  denomination, 
seven  ministers  and  sixteen  churches,  with  an  aggre- 
gate membership  of  four  hundred  and  twenty-two. 
Among  them  all  there  was  the  one  house  of  worship, ls 
built  and  used  expressly  as  such:  now  (1870),  there 
are  one  hundred  and  eighty-one  ministers  and  one 
hundred  and  eighty-nine  churches,  with  a  member- 
ship of  about  ten  thousand. 

These  churches  are  well  supplied,  for  a  new  country, 
with  houses  of  worship,  some  of  which  are  among  the 
finest  structures  in  the  state.  They  are  located 
mainly  in  the  principal  centers  of  population  and 
trade,  —  places,  in  this  respect,  like  those  in  which 
Paul  first  preached  the  gospel.  They  embrace,  to  say 
the  least,  their  proportionate  share  of  the  command- 
ing forces  of  society.  These  churches,  as  a  general 
thing,  are  alive  and  vigorous. 

The  amount  of  money  raised  by  them  during  the 
year  ending  June.  1869,  for  home  purposes  and 
benevolent  objects  abroad,  was  $136.405 ;  and  was 
equal  to  an  average  of  sixteen  dollars  to  every 
resident  church  member.  Of  these  churches  all 
but  four  were  planted  by,  and  have  been  nurtured 

l8  At  Dubuque, 


RESULTS  79 

through,   the  agency  of  the   American    Home    Mis- 
sionary Society. 

But  let  us  not  dwell  too  long  among  mere  statistics. 
Keeping  in  mind  the  one  hundred  and  eighty-nine 
churches  now  scattered  over  the  state,  as  the  fruits 
of,  and  the  fruit-bearing  vines  planted  by,  the  Home 
Missionary  Society,  let  us  indicate  a  few  facts  illus- 
trative of  their  significance  and  value. 

The  local  church  is  the  laboring  point  in  the  king- 
dom of  God.  Where  the  local  church  is  vigorous  and 
active,  it  includes  every  form  of  wise  Christian  labor. 
Were  the  world  to  be  converted  by  public  gatherings 
in  associations  and  conventions,  by  public  councils 
and  resolves,  the  work  were  easily  done.  But  little 
is  accomplished  by  these,  useful  as  they  are  in  their 
place,  save  as  those  who  share  in  them  go  back  to  the 
home  churches,  where  by  prayer  and  by  work  the  seed 
of  the  kingdom  is  to  be  sown  among  the  people. 
Here,  where  the  gospel  is  preached  and  its  ordi- 
nances are  maintained,  where  the  light  shines  and 
the  gospel  leaven  is  at  work  in  households,  Sabbath- 
schools,  congregations  and  society  at  large,  are  the 
working  centers  of  Christianity. 

Here,  too,  are  the  laborers  for  Christ  who  are  to 
go  forth  into  other  fields,  bearing  precious  seed  with 
them.  From  these  Iowa  churches  such  laborers  have 
gone  forth  to  the  East  and  the  West  and  the  South 
and  to  the  isles  of  the  sea.  Some  of  our  missionaries 
abroad  to-day  were  raised  up  in  the  bosom  of  these 


8o  THE    IOWA    BAND 

churches,  and  others  are  preparing  to  follow.  For  the 
promotion  of  Christ's  kingdom  in  the  land,  we  have 
various  organizations,  —  Bible  societies,  tract  socie- 
ties, Sabbath-school  societies,  and  the  like.  But  who 
does  not  know  that  the  moment  a  home  missionary 
enters  a  field,  he  is  almost  compelled  by  the  force  of 
circumstances  to  be  a  Bible  agent,  a  tract  agent,  a 
Sabbath-school  agent,  and  the  agent  and  actor  in 
every  form  of  effort  by  which  Christian  work  is  to  be 
done? 

We  hear  often  and  much  as  to  its  being  the  prov- 
ince of  certain  agencies  to  go  in  advance  of  the 
churches  ;  but  we  never  yet  heard  of  a  great  battle 
won  by  skirmishers.  All  due  honor  to  anybody  and 
any  agency  that  can  do  good  in  any  measure  and 
anywhere  ;  but  let  us  not  forget  to  recognize  the  wis- 
dom of  the  divine  plans  in  accordance  with  which 
everything  effective  in  the  kingdom  of  God  must 
spring  from  and  be  nourished  by  "the  church  of  the 
living  God,  which  is  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the 
truth."  So  shall  we  honor  that  Society,  which,  in 
the  planting  of  churches,  in  a  sense  absorbs  and 
carries  in  itself  all  Christian  agencies. 

Tn  estimating  the  influence  of  these  churches  in 
Iowa,  we  must  not  forget  the  revivals  of  religion  in- 
cluded in  their  history.  When  God  in  various  ways 
so  wonderfully  prepared  this  nation  for  the  fearful 
struggle  through  which  it  has  recently  passed,  by 
abundant  harvests  and  general  financial  success,  he 


RESULTS  X, 

also  scattered  over  the  land  numerous  and  powerful 
revivals  of  religion,  through  which,  in  part  at  least, 
a  moral  sentiment  was  created,  adequate  to  cope  with 
the  powers  of  oppression,  and  to  endure  in  the  strug- 
gle. In  our  accounts  of  revivals,  we  say:  so  many 
were  converted,  so  many  have  joined  the  church  ;  as 
though  this  were  the  whole  of  it;  but  here,  as  else- 
where, figures  fail  to  tell  the  story.  Follow  those  truly 
converted  through  their  life-work ;  see  in  the  elevation 
and  development  of  Christian  character,  in  the 
changes  wrought  in  many  homes,  in  society,  in  trades, 
professions,  and  the  various  callings  of  life,  the  influ- 
ence of  genuine  revivals  of  religion ;  and  then  you 
may  begin  to  estimate  them.  So  we  shall  see  how 
the  Congregational  churches  of  Iowa,  and  those  of 
all  denominations,  have  been  blessed,  and  made  a 
blessing  to  the  state,  by  the  outpourings  of  God's 
reviving  spirit. 

We  should  do  injustice,  in  speaking  of  the  results 
of  home  missions  in  Iowa,  did  we  fail  to  mention  that 
to  these  home  mission  churches  is  the  country  largely 
indebted  for  the  stand  taken  and  the  services  ren- 
dered by  this  new  and  rising  state  in  the  hour  of  our 
common  national  peril.  What  these  were,  we  need 
not  tell.  They  are  known  and  read  of  all  men.  It 
might  have  been  otherwise. 

Once,  when,  in  the  territorial  legislature,  the 
question  of  the  admission  or  rejection  of  slavery  was 
discussed,  liberty  barely  triumphed.     The  portions  of 


82  THE    IOWA     BAND 

the  state  earliest  and  most  thickly  settled  received 
a  population  largely  imbued  with  Southern  feeling 
and  Southern  sentiment.  Any  open  opposition  to  hu- 
man bondage  was  decidedly  unpopular.  Our  little 
churches  found  themselves  amid  uncongenial  ele- 
ments. They  were  stigmatized  as  abolition  churches. 
Their  ministers  were  some  of  them  threatened  with 
violence;  but  they  stood  faithful,  espousing  from  the 
first,  and  ever  pleading,  the  cause  of  human  rights. 

A  change  was  wrought,  and  Iowa  is  honored,  the 
country  over,  as  true  to  the  cause  of  freedom.  To 
what  extent  this  fact  is  due  to  the  churches  that 
gathered  to  their  bosoms  the  descendants  of  the  Pil- 
grims, who  had  made  new  homes  on  her  soil,  and 
lifted  aloft  the  standard  of  a  liberty-giving  gospel, 
may  never  be  definitely  known,  for  here,  again,  facts 
and  figures  fail  us.  But  we  know,  that  when  men 
were  called  for  and  armies  were  to  be  raised,  one 
out  of  every  four  of  their  ministers  sent  a  son,  nearly 
every  fourth  of  their  adult  male  members  enlisted, 
and,  from  their  congregations,  two  thousand  went 
forth  to  the  conflict.  Of  those  who  went  from  their 
communion  tables,  one  third  never  returned.  In  the 
councils  of  the  nation,  too,  was  their  influence  felt. 
Of  this  we  are  assured,  when,  during  the  war,  there 
stood  among  us  one19  holding  one  of  the  highest 
positions  of  trust  in  the  gift  of  the  state,  whose  voice 
in  both  state  and  national  councils  had  always  been 

'''  Senator  GrimsF. 


kbSULTS  S3 

true  and  potent  for  liberty,  who  frankly  affirmed,  that, 

in  respect  to  his  political  principles,  he  owed  more  to 
the  body  of  men  before  him  than  to  any  other,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  declared  his  political  godfather  to 
be  him  who  was  honored  with  the  title  of  "Father" 
among  us., 

We  shall  not  be  charged  with  undue  presumption 
if  we  say  a  word  here  of  the  modifying  influence  ex- 
erted upon  other  denominations.  As  Congregation- 
alists,  we  are  neither  bigoted  nor  vain  enough  to  feel 
that  all  excellence  or  wisdom  is  with  us.  We  set  up 
no  claim  to  perfection.  Our  Western  lives  have 
taught  us  better.  As  we  now  see  it,  each  denomina- 
tion of  true  believers  has  its  own  peculiar  excellence, 
around  which  it  grows,  and  from  which  it  has  what- 
ever is  peculiar  to  its  life.  The  several  evangelical 
denominations,  working  side  by  side  in  this  open  field, 
inevitably  affect  each  other.  They  give  to  and  borrow 
from  each  other.  No  one  of  them  in  the  future  is  to 
be  just  what  it  would  have  been  by  itself.  That 
future  will  not,  cannot  be  just  what  any  one  of  them 
alone  would  have  made  it.  It  is  to  be  better  than  this, 
and  each  denomination  is  to  be  the  better  for  the 
others. 

The  modifying  influence  which  the  denominations 
mutually  exert  is  too  marked  to  escape  the  notice  of 
any.  Let  it  go  on.  We  believe  they  are  doing  each 
other  good,  hi  this  direction  should  the  friends  of 
missions  look  for  a  portion,  at  least,  of  the  results  of 


84  THE    IOWA    BAND 

this  labor;  for  there  is  no  danger  that  the  influence 
of  the  polity  and  principles  of  the  Congregational 
churches  will  be  too  strong  amid  the  forming  influ- 
ences of  the  West.  There  is  need  of  them,  and  let  the 
need  be  supplied. 

If  anything  more  is  needed  in  this  chapter  of  re- 
sults to  inspire  the  feeling  that  this  work  of  home 
missions  pays,  we  have  only  to  remember  that  those 
churches  are  young  and  vigorous,  and  in  a  growing 
field.  In  a  few  years,  other  churches  than  that  al- 
ready referred  to,  other  pastors,  will  be  having  their 
silver  weddings ;  year  by  year,  additional  ones  will  be 
coming  up  to  the  point  of  self-support,  and  pass  on 
in  their  growth.  New  ones,  betimes,  will  be  planted. 
In  God's  husbandry,  how  soon  is  it  perpetual  sun- 
shine and  shower,  seed-time  and  harvest,  commingled  ! 

The  sheaves  are  in  our  arms,  and  the  tender  grain 
at  the  same  time  is  springing  at  our  feet.  Centuries 
in  God's  seasons  are  but  days,  quarter-centuries  but 
hours.  For  what  we  have  already  seen,  let  God  be 
thanked.  In  following  chapters  we  shall  meet  with 
still  further  results,  which,  with  those  that  have  been 
named,  are  but  the  seeds  of  the  future. 


CHAPTER    XII 

THE    IOWA    ASSOCIATION 

IT  is  interesting  to  see  with  what  boldness  and  in- 
dependence a  few  home  missionaries,  when  they 
get  together,  will  start  and  lay  out  plans  in  the  West. 
It  is  all  natural  enough  ;  for  a  sense  of  the  surround- 
ing growth  and  progress  soon  takes  possession  of  the 
Western  man.  In  all  arrangements  the  future  is  ;n 
tieipated.  and  room  for  it  carefully  made.  So  it  comes 
that  some  little  church  in  an  ordinary  village  hears 
the  name  of  The  First  Congregational  Church.  One, 
indeed,  sometimes  almost  smiles  at  the  comprehensive 
and  imposing  titles  with  which  some  little  organiza- 
tion is  at  the  first  burdened.  But  it  should  be  remem- 
bered that  the  actors  have  an  eye  to  things  as  they  are 
to  be,  not  as  they  are.  If  they  start  with  large  titles 
and  plans,  it  is  because  they  have  confidence  that 
things  will  soon  grow  up  to  them. 

Thus  it  was,  that,  in  Denmark,  as  early  as  Nov.  6, 
1840,  when,  as  yet,  the  state  had  hardly  begun  to  be 
settled,  the  General  Congregational  Association  of 
Iowa  was  organized,  consisting  of  three  churches, 
three  ministers  and  one  licentiate.  It  may  not  be 
amiss  to  give  their  names.    The  churches  were  those 


86  THE    IOWA    BAND 

of  Denmark,  Fairfield  and  Danville,  with  an  aggre- 
gate membership  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-four;  the 
ministers  were  Asa  Turner,  J.  A.  Reed,  Reuben  Gay- 
lord,  and  Charles  Burnham,  lieentiate.  The  first  two 
are  still  members  of  the  Association,  witnessing  from 
year  to  year  the  fulfilment  of  their  prophecy  in  the 
name  they  gave  it;  the  third,  years  ago,  pitched  his 
pioneer  tent  on  the  western  bank  of  the  Missouri,  to 
be  an  actor  in  like  prophecies  and  fulfilments  in  a  still 
more  western  state. 

The  Association  thus  formed  held  its  meetings 
semi-annually,  in  spring  and  autumn,  till  October, 
1844.  At  this  time,  by  its  recommendation,  minor 
associations  were  formed,  to  hold  their  meetings 
semi-annually ;  and  its  own  meetings  began  to  be 
held  once  a  year.  The  minor  associations  now  num- 
ber twelve.  To  these  belong  ordained  ministers,  and 
churches  represented  by  delegates.  Ministers  and 
churches  of  the  minor  bodies  are  acknowledged  mem- 
bers of  the  General  Association;  making  this,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  an  annual  gathering  of  the 
churches,  for  the  exercise  of  no  ecclesiastical  rule,  but, 
as  expressed  in  the  second  article  of  its  constitution, 
"to  promote  intercourse  and  harmony  among  the 
ministers  and  churches  in  its  connection,  to  dissemi- 
nate information  relative  to  the  state  of  religion,  and 
enable  its  members  to  cooperate  with  one  another, 
and  with  other  ecclesiastical  bodies,  in  advancing  the 
cause  of  the  Redeemer." 


THE    IOWA    ASSOCIATION  87 

The  spirit  and  proceedings  of  the  annual  meetings 
of  this  body,  if  faithfully  given,  would,  of  course,  re- 
veal much  of  the  inner  workings  and  progress  of  mis- 
sionary and  ministerial  life  in  Iowa.  Among  the  must 
pleasing  recollections  of  the  writer  are  those  of  a  long 
series  of  these  yearly  gatherings;  for.  since  1844.  it 
has  been  his  privilege  to  be  present,  with  a  single 
exception,  at  all  of  them.  This  exception  occurred 
when  the  shadow  of  the  death-angel  was  hanging 
over  his  dwelling.  The  printed  minutes  of  the  Asso- 
ciation for  the  last  twenty  years  are  before  him;  and 
from  these,  and  the  storehouse  of  his  memory,  let  a 
few  things  be  gathered. 

There  meets  us,  at  the  outset,  a  little  testimony 
touching  the  soundness  in  doctrine  of  these  churches 
and  ministers,  as  found  in  the  articles  of  faith  adopted 
at  the  beginning,  and  ever  since  retained.  In  the  early 
davs,  this  soundness  was  not  always  conceded  to  us. 
Not  only  were  our  churches  stigmatized  in  certain 
quarters  as  "abolition,"  but  heretical.  They  were  de- 
nounced as  unsound  and  irregular:  an  exchange  of 
pulpits,  even  such  pulpits  as  were  found  in  school- 
houses  and  court-houses,  was  in  some  cases  refused. 
"Congregationalism  tends  to  Unitarianism"  was  the 
whisper  industriously  circulated.  When  this  was 
nailed  to  the  wall  by  an  appeal  to  the  true  history  of 
Congregationalism  in  New  England,  the  shift  was. 
"Congregationalism  at  the  West  is  not  what  it  is  in 
the   East.      It    is    all    right  there,  but  out  here  it  is 


88  THE    IOWA    BAND 

loose  and  irregular."  And,  to  our  chagrin,  this 
charge  was  partly  believed,  even  at  the  East.  When 
we  most  needed  confidence  and  sympathy,  there  was, 
in  some  quarters,  somewhat  of  coldness  and  distrust. 
Among  some  of  the  good  Eastern  fathers,  to  whom 
appertained,  as  they  seemed  to  think,  the  steadying 
of  the  ark,  was  the  feeling  that  hardly  any  good  thing 
could  come  from  the  West. 

But  these  things  have  passed  away.  Our  practice 
since  has  confirmed  our  professions  at  the  first.  We 
have  long  been  recognized,  fellowshiped  at  the  East, 
as  sound  in  the  faith.  But  for  the  savor  of  boasting 
in  it,  we  might  have  mentioned  the  present  standing 
of  Western  Congregationalism,  and  the  present  fel- 
lowship between  the  Eastern  and  the  Western,  as,  in 
part,  at  least,  among  the  results  of  Iowa  home  mis- 
sions. 

In  view  of  what  has  now  been  said,  it  can  easily  be 
seen  how  correspondence  with  Eastern  bodies  by  del- 
egates was  appreciated.  It  is  appreciated  now ;  but 
in  former  days  it  had  a  more  precious  significance. 
At  first  we  were  few  in  number,  coming  from  fields 
new  and  widely  separated.  We  made  provision  for 
a  seat  with  us  of  delegates  from  foreign  bodies,  which 
were  then  mainly  in  the  East.  Isolated  as  we  were, 
and  ill  our  peculiar  circumstances,  it  was  joyous  to 
see  each  others'  faces ;  but  for  years  no  living  man 
from  the  far  East  found  us  in  our  distant  home. 

At  length   there  came  one   D.   Shepley  —  a  godly 


THE    IOWA    ASSOCIATION 


89 


man  from  a  conference  in  Maine.  He  was  ac- 
quainted with  some  of  our  number  in  their  youth,  and, 

of  course,  had  confidence  in  them.  As  he  looked 
in  upon  us,™  and  was  among  ns  in  our  prayers,  our 
plans  and  our  labors,  his  heart  was  moved.  He  took 
us  to  his  bosom.  He  poured  forth  his  prayers  for  us, 
and  gave  his  counsels  to  us.  He  promised  to  take  us 
back  with  him  in  his  heart,  and  commend  us  to  the 
confidence  of  the  old  home  churches.  That  was 
Christian  salutation  and  fellowship  indeed !  In  later 
years  there  would  sometimes  be  one,  sometimes  two. 
Their  names  stand  recorded  upon  our  minutes. 
Some  of  them  have  gone  to  the  greater  gathering 
above ;  but  their  faces  and  their  words  are  still  fresh 
in  our  memories.  Those  were  the  days  in  which 
Christian  greetings  were  precious.  In  these  later 
times,  in  our  printed  lists,  the  names  of  delegates, 
secretaries,  etc.,  are  not  a  few,  and  our  body  some- 
times puts  on  quite  an  imposing  aspect ;  but  those 
who  come  now  are  not  to  us  exactly  what  the  first 
and  the  few  in  the  early  days  were. 

As  would  be  naturally  supposed,  the  meetings  of 
our  Association  have  been  characterized  by  a  high 
degree  of  Christian  love  and  harmony.  Many  things 
have  combined  to  make  them  so.  In  earlier  years, 
the  majority  of  our  number  were  old  friends  and 
classmates.  They  had  happily  coalesced  with  those 
on  the  field  before  them.     Others  coming,  as  happily 

20  The  Association  at  I  Hibuque,  1850. 


go  THE    IOWA     BAND 

became  one  with  them  all.  So  it  came  to  pass  that 
there  was  a  unity  of  sentiment,  purpose  and  plan,  un- 
usual in  a  Western  body ;  while  the  early  friendships 
and  affections  formed,  combined  with  the  peculiar 
circumstances  of  a  new  country  and  new  fields,  gave 
to  the  meetings  such  zest  and  earnest  Christian  fel- 
lowships as  would  hardly  be  looked  for,  and  would 
seem  almost  rude,  in  an  Eastern  body.  "The  best  of 
all,"  said  a  daughter  of  one  of  the  missionaries,  when 
old  enough  to  attend  one  of  these  meetings,  —  "the 
best  of  all  was  to  see  them  shake  hands,  the  first  night, 
after  the  sermon."  If  some  of  the  older  ministers 
should  be  called  upon  to  give  some  of  their  happiest 
reminiscences,  they  would  not  forget  their  journeys 
of  a  hundred  or  two  hundred  miles  to  and  from  the 
Association,  and  of  the  pleasing  incidents  met  with 
while  in  attendance.  One  could  tell  you  that  he  went 
on  foot  nearly  two  hundred  miles,  and  felt  paid  for  the 
journey.  Others  can  remember  long  horseback  rides, 
the  fording  of  streams,  and  the  rude  yet  genial  enter- 
tainment at  night  in  the  log  cabin  by  the  way,  whose 
latch-string  was  always  out.  When  buggies  were 
introduced,  and  bridges  began  to  be  built,  it  was  an 
"age  of  progress." 

In  the  business  of  these  meetings,  seldom  has  there 
been  a  jar  of  angry  debate  or  strife  in  all  these  twenty- 
five  years.  Differences  of  opinion  have,  of  course, 
been  expressed,  but  with  Christian  courtesy,  and,  in 
the  decisions  that  have  been  reached,  care  has  been 


THE    IOWA    ASSOCIATIOh  91 

taken  that  the  views  of  all  should,  as  far  as  possible, 
be  regarded.  If  it  is  good  for  "brethren  to  dwell  to- 
gether in  unity,"  in  looking  back  through  the  long 
series  of  these  annual  meetings,  there  is  little  to 
regret,  and  much  to  be  recalled  with  pleasure. 

They  have  been  characterized  by  a  spirit  of  prayer 
ami  devotion.  For  years,  the  first  evening  was  spent 
in  prayer  for  the  presence  of  the  Master.  The  need 
of  his  presence  was  peculiarly  felt  in  the  early  days. 
Experience  soon  taught  that  a  meeting  of  friendly 
greetings  simply,  without  the  presence  and  spirit  of 
Christ,  must  be  a  failure.  The  practice  of  an  opening 
sermon  soon  crowded  out  this  hour  of  prayer  on  the 
first  evening;  but  it  found,  perhaps,  a  better  place. 
It  was  put,  and  has  stood  for  years,  in  the  middle  of 
the  forenoon  of  each  day's  session.  There  it  takes 
the  freshness  of  the  morning.  It  is  the  hour,  if  any, 
that  friends  in  the  place  can  spare  to  pray  with  their 
guests.  Though  interrupting  business,  it  steadies  it 
for  the  day.  It  gives  tone  to  the  exercises  of  the 
whole  meeting.  It  is  the  hour  of  all  others  in  which 
all  wish  to  be  present.  With  no  pride,  but  with  joy, 
we  see  that  this  practice  of  putting  an  hour  of  prayer 
into  the  best  part  of  the  day  has  in  some  cases  been 
copied  by  other  religious  bodies.  It  can  be  recom- 
mended to  all. 

Among  the  best  features  of  these  annual  gatherings 
has  been  the  attendance  of  the  wives.  This  was  es- 
pecially true  in  the  early  times.     And  why  not?     As 


92  THE    IOWA     BAND 

the  brother  got  up  his  horse  and  buggy  to  start  on 
his  journey  of  a  hundred  miles  or  so,  along  which  he 
would  find  other  brethren  to  start  with  him,  why 
should  he  go  alone?  Why  not  take  along  his  young 
wife,  and  their  one  child?  Will  not  the  journey,  and 
the  visits  by  the  way,  be  just  as  refreshing  to  her  as 
to  him?  Is  there  not  a  communion  of  sisters  as  well 
as  of  brethren?  The  hallowed  influences  of  these  an- 
nual assemblies,  —  are  they  not  as  needful  and  useful 
for  the  wives  as  the  husbands  ?  At  an  early  day,  the 
general  understanding  was  that  the  wives,  too,  should 
come.  They  did  come,  renewing  old  and  forming 
new  friendships,  recounting  the  goodness  of  God  in 
the  past,  and  gathering  new  strength,  hope,  courage 
and  consecration,  that  made  them  better  helpers  in 
the  home  mission  work. 

If  in  this,  too,  other  bodies  have  copied  our  exam- 
ple, we  think  no  harm  has  come  of  it.  But  times  have 
changed.  Family  cares  have  increased.  Modes  of 
travel  have  changed,  becoming  more  expeditious,  but 
more  costly,  too.  The  field  has  enlarged.  Not  every 
mother  and  wife  can  go  now,  but  the  attendance  of 
the  sisters  is  still  a  feature  of  the  Iowa  Association, 
profitable  alike  to  them,  their  companions  and  the 
churches.  They  have  their  separate  meetings  for 
prayer,  while,  in  the  regular  hours  of  devotion,  the 
volume  of  supplication  is  increased  by  the  silent  up- 
liftine  of  their  hearts,  with  those  of  the  brethren,  to 
God..     By  the  light  of  their  cheerful  faces,  homes  are 


THE    IOWA    ASSOCIATION 


93 


opened  to  a  more  cordial  hospitality,  they  helping  in 
many  ways  to  make  the  meeting-  of  the  Association  a 
pleasure  and  a  blessing  in  any  place  where  it  is  held. 
Often,  in  some  house  or  hall,  are  social  fellowships 
added  to  the  religious.  Acquaintances  and  friend- 
ships are  formed,  ties  of  affection  are  strengthened, 
and  Christ's  kingdom  as  well. 

Lest  any  one  may  think  the  picture  is  overdrawn 
by  one  who  has  for  years  been  in  and  of  them,  let  the 
testimony  of  a  stranger,  whose  field  of  labor  is  at  t he- 
East,  but  who  came  to  us  once  bearing  the  greetings 
of  his  brethren,  be  given.21  He  says,  "A  few  years 
ago,  I  had  the  privilege  of  attending  the  Annual 
Meeting  of  the  General  Association  of  Iowa.  There 
are  no  more  self-denying  and  faithful  missionaries  of 
Christ  anywhere  than  were  represented  there,  —  the 
patriarchal  'Father  Turner'  at  the  head,  apparently 
the  youngest  of  them  all.  How  those  weather-beaten 
men  and  women  talked  and  prayed !  How  they  laid 
hold  of  each  other,  and  of  any  casual  stranger  who 
might  be  present,  without  waiting  for  formal  intro- 
duction, when  the  moderator  announced  that  the  time 
had  arrived  for  the  miscellaneous  shaking  of  the 
hands  all  around  the  house !  How  enthusiastically 
they  united  business  and  enjoyment !  How  tenderly 
they  sang  their  parting  hymn,  standing  around  the 
table  where  together  they  had  partaken  of  the  sacra- 
mental emblems  of  a   Saviour's  love,  breaking  forth 

«  E.  K.  Alden,  Secretary  A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 


94 


THE    IOWA     BAND 


spontaneously  into  song  during  the  sacramental 
feast !"  Those  hymns,  those  songs,  we  may  add,  are 
all  the  sweeter  because  the  voices  of  the  wives  are  min- 
gled in  them. 

But  let  no  one  think  that  these  Associational  meet- 
ings consist  only  in  the  rhapsodies  of  Christian  fellow 
ship,  communion  and  prayer.  There  is  business,  too. 
The  printed  minutes  furnish  abundant  evidence  that 
another  marked  feature  of  the  Iowa  Association  has 
been  its  prompt  and  decided  action  from  time  to  time 
upon  the  vital  questions  of  the  day.  On  all  such  sub- 
jects as  the  Sabbath,  intemperance,  slavery,  the  Mex- 
ican war,  the  Rebellion,  etc.,  its  testimony  has  been 
given  with  no  uncertain  sound.  Resolutions  upon 
resolutions  on  these  topics  might  be  copied,  were  it 
necessary. 

Out  of  the  necessities  that  have  arisen  in  the  prac- 
tical working  of  things  in  this  new  field  this  Associa- 
tion has  initiated  policies,  and  recommended  meas- 
ures, afterwards  approved  and  adopted  by  the  denom- 
ination throughout  the  land.  More  than  one  instance 
could  be  named ;  but  the  most  important  is  that  of 
"church-building  at  the  West."  No  wonder,  that,  by 
those  on  the  ground,  the  absolute  necessity  of  houses 
of  worship  should  early  be  felt,  and  that  it  should  be 
thought  that  aid  in  building  them,  as  well  as  in  sus- 
taining the  gospel  ministry,  was  wise  policy. 

As  early  as  1845,  more  than  twenty  years  ago,  an 
able  report  was  presented,  recommending  this  policy 


////.     IOWA    ASSOCIATION 

to  our  Eastern  friends.  The  polic)  was  resisted.  No 
place  was  found  for  the  report  by  any  of  the  leading 
papers.  Our  friends  were-  fixed  in  the  position.  "If 
we  help  sustain  your  ministers,  yon  must  build  your 
own  ehurches."  Six  years  later,  another  report  was 
made,  drawn  by  the  same  hand,"  reaffirming  the  old 
positions,  with  additional  facts.  This  found  a  hear- 
ing. Other  testimony,  from  other  quarters,  was  of 
course  given.  Soon  after  came  the  Albany  Conven- 
tion, and  then  light  began  to  dawn.  Before  the  Al- 
bany fund,  however,  we  had  already  our  Iowa  plan, 
and  an  Iowa  fund  in  progress.  Now  the  Congrega- 
tional Union24  has  this  as  its  speeial  work. 

No  thanks  in  all  this  to  us,  and  no  cause  for  boast- 
ing. We  only  see  in  it  that  God,  by  the  force  of  cir- 
cumstances, and  the  necessities  developed  by  his 
providence,  was  teaching  his  people.  If  we  do  n  t 
in  some  respects,  have  better  plans  and  better 
churches  in  these  Western  fields  than  are  found  else- 
where, then  woe  be  to  us;  for  in  that  case  we  must 
be  dull  scholars  indeed. 

But  we  will  not  dwell  longer  on  these  pleasing 
recollections  of  our  Associational  meetings.  The 
plans  of  those  first  three  ministers  were  not  too  large, 
nor  were  their  expectations  visionary.  They  believed 
that  there  would  be  a  General  Congregational  Asso- 
ciation of  Iowa.     As  a  realization  of  their  faith,  we 

22  Note  No.  10. 
o.  Emerson. 
'-'•  Now  tin-  Congregational  Church  Buildin 


96  THE    IOWA    BAND 

have  a  body,  we  may  modestly  suggest,  highly  re- 
spectable as  to  numbers  and  talent,  and  characterized, 
we  trust,  by  a  goodly  measure  of  Christian  zeal  and 
devotion,  whose  opinions  and  recommendations  are 
of  weight  among  its  churches,  and  respected  in  the 
land.  It  is  already  so  large  as  to  suggest  the  coming 
necessity  of  a  division.  But  "not  till  we  are  dead," 
say  some  of  the  oldest  members ;  "we  don't  wish  to 
see  it."  How  long  some  of  us  are  to  labor,  and  what 
the  necessities  of  the  future  are  to  be,  God  only  knows. 
To  him  let  there  be  given  praise  for  the  past,  and  in 
him  let  there  be  trust  for  the  time  to  come. 


CHAPTER    XIII 

THE  IOWA   ASSOCIATION.     WHAT  IS  IT  NOW? 

IT  is  greatly  enlarged,  of  course.  We  who  are  n< »w 
living  do  not  wonder  at  it.  It  is  but  a  part  of  the 
wonderful  growth  which  has  been  going  on  in  all 
things  about  us,  —  a  growth  far  beyond  the  expecta- 
tions of  those  who  were  at  the  beginning  of  things 
fifty  years  ago,  in  small  communities  that  had  not  felt 
or  even  dreamed  of  the  impulse  that  was  to  come  to 
a  new  state  from  railroads,  the  telegraph,  telephones, 
and  all  the  appliances  of  mechanical  skill  and  genius 
to  develop  the  unknown  resources  of  the  land  they 
were  possessing. 

They  doubtless  had  faith  in  the  future,  but  how 
short  of  the  realities  must  their  boldest  imaginings 
have  been  !  As  an  illustration  of  this,  space  is  here 
given  for  an  extract  from  a  letter  written  by  one  of 
those  workers  in  the  early  days.  The  letter  by  its  date 
suggests  to  us  the  author.  It  is  our  Brother  Lane,  of 
course,  who,  with  his  good  wife,  had  begun  housekeep- 
ing with  dry-goods  boxes  for  chairs  and  tables, — and 
but  a  little  over  six  months  after  he  entered  upon  his 
work  has  been  preaching  where,  and  to  whom?  No 
church  building,  no  audience  but  a  mere  handful.     It 

97 


oS  THE    lOtVA     BAND 

is  i<v44  :  the  General  Association  but  a  year  Of  two  old  ; 
Ot  minor  associations,  but  two,  one  for  northern,  the 
other  for  southern  Iowa ;  the  Northern  just  formed, 
his  own  church  of  a  dozen  or  so  not  yet  a  member  of 
any.  Perhaps,  as  he  sits  down  to  write,  it  is  Monday 
morning,  and  he  has  been  thinking  of  his  Sabbath 
work  and  the  small  beginnings  around  him.  Op- 
pressed? Discouraged?  Just  a  little,  for  a  moment, 
it  may  be.  And  yet  it  is  not  like  him.  Possibly  a  map 
is  before  him  of  Iowa  as  it  then  was.  If  so,  his  eye 
rests  upon  such  places  as  Tipton,  Bloomington,  and 
such  counties  as  Jones,  Clayton,  etc.,  where  the  breth- 
ren were,  and  all  of  them,  like  himself,  in  small  things. 
Yes,  it  is  just  possible  that  for  his  own  cheer  and 
courage  he  sets  himself  to  thinking  what  in  the  bless- 
ing of  God  there  might  be  in  the  future,  and  so  he 
would  pen  a  few  lines  for  himself  and  the  brother  to 
whom  he  wrote.    At  anv  rate  he  did  write  as  follows : 


Keosauqua,  Van  Buren  Co.,  July  31,  1844. 
We  shall  be  continually  sending  for  new  volunteers  from 
Eastern  theological  seminaries  to  take  possession  of  the  new 
counties  in  the  New  Purchase,  and  the  occasional  parishes, 
which  by  the  blessing  of  God,  we  hope  to  make  here  in  the 
vicinity  about  us.  Do  not  think,  my  dear  brother,  that  I  am 
scheming,  that  we  are  going  to  make  parishes  here,  as  easily 
as  a  farmer  will  enclose  forty  acres  of  land,  and  then  put  min- 
isters into  them  as  readily  as  the  farmer  could  put  tenants  upon 
his  enclosed  fields.  We  shall  do  no  such  thing.  We  are  hop- 
ing, however  that  the  Great  Head  of  the  Church  will  do  this 
work  for  us.  I  believe  the  time  is  not  far  distant,  when  this 
work  will  be  done.  Sometimes  I  try  and  wrap  myself  up  in  the 
future,  and  by  contemplating  what  will  be,  take  courage  to  labor 
for  the  time  being.     Now  I  am  sitting  in  some  well  furnished, 


THE  IOWA  ASSOCIATION.     WHAT  IS  IT  NOW?    99 

spacious  church ; a  large  congregation  is  convened  to  listen  to 
the  reports  from  various  churches;  one  numbers  200  members, 
another  150.  others  140.  100.  59,  66,  .300,  317.  etc.     Pastors  have 

been  settled  fifteen,  twenty,  and  thirty  year--,  revival  has  suc- 
ceeded revival,  and  all  is  indicative  of  prosperity  within  the 
bounds  of  the  association  assembled.  Delegates  from  sister  as- 
sociations are  there.  Brother  Salter  (locks  whitened  with 
age)  addresses  the  audience,  representing  Zion's  prosperity  in 
northern  Iowa.  Brother  Turner  ("leaning  upon  the  top  of  bis 
staff")  gives  an  account  of  what  God  has  done  for  his  people 
in  Jones  County.  Brother  Hill,  from  Clayton,  although  bald- 
headed,  yet  retaining  nearly  all  the  physical  vigor  of  youth, 
makes  a  speech.  Brother  Alden  represents  Tipton;  Brother 
Robbins,  Bloomington.  The  ten  are  there  and  the  voice  of 
each  is  heard.  Then,  in  view  of  the  past,  we  will  exclaim 
'Bless  the  Lord,  O  our  souls,  and  all  within  us  bless  his  holy 
name.' 

This  association  adjourns  on  Friday.  Oct.  12,  1890.  Shall 
we  live  to  see  this?  No  matter  whether  we  do  or  not,  some- 
thing similar  to  that  now  described  will  exist  in  tfhe  churches 
in  Iowa,  without  doubt.  If  we  see  it  not  in  this  world,  God 
grant  that  we  may  look  down  from  heaven  and  see  it ! 

'Written  in  1844,  the  imagined  meeting  of  the  As- 
sociation was  placed  in  1890.  "Shall  we  see  it?"  was 
the  question.  No,  not  all  were  permitted  to  see  it,  he 
himself  among  the  number.  But  if  permitted  from 
heaven  to  look  down,  what  did  he  see  in  1890?  He 
beheld  the  General  Association  holding  its  semi-cen- 
tennial at  Des  Moines,  a  point  at  the  time  of  his  writ- 
ing so  far  west  in  the  Indian  country  as  to  be  known 
only  as  "Racoon  Forks."  where  there  was  a  fort. 
"A  spacious  church?"  Yes,  large  enough  to  accom- 
modate an  assemblage  not  simply  from  the  old  Black 
Hawk  Purchase  with  the  Xew  Purchase  just  added, 
but  from  over  the  whole  state.  More  pastors,  more 
churches  and  larger  ones  than  he  had  dared  to  dreani 


IOO  THE    IOWA     BAND 

of ;  a  time  when  in  sermon  and  papers  were  rehearsed 
fifty  years  of  Congregational  work  in  a  new  and  rising 
Commonwealth.  Could  he  have  been  there  he  with 
reason  doubtless  would  have  said,  "Bless  the  Lord, 
O  my  soul!"  And  now  it  is  1901.  To  1890  eleven 
years  have  been  added.  The  three  churches,  little  at 
first,  are  over  three  hundred  now,  with  a  membership 
of  over  30,000,  absentees  not  reckoned.  To  the  three 
pastors  with  one  licentiate  then,  there  have  been  added 
and  now  stands  a  long,  long  list.  They  are  held  as  yet 
in  one  body,  for  one  annual  gathering  from  year  to 
year.  And  what  is  the  Association  now  compared 
with  what  it  was  years  ago?  In  every  respect  not 
exactly  the  same.  This  in  the  nature  of  the  case  could 
not  be. 

With  the  increase  of  wealth  and  material  prosperity 
great  changes  have  come.  The  cabins  with  their 
latch-strings  out  have  gone,  giving  place  to  dwellings 
of  comfort,  to  residences  palatial,  some  of  them,  where 
for  a  stranger  to  look  for  hospitality  would  be  intru- 
sion. Telegraphs,  telephones  and  the  railroads  are 
here  changing  almost  completely  our  modes  of  busi- 
ness and  travel.  No  longer  now  at  Association  time, 
as  to  an  appointed  Mecca,  do  the  brethren  pursue 
their  journeys  on  horseback  or  in  buggies,  fording 
streams,  toiling  over  wide  prairies  with  eager  expec- 
tations of  hearty  greetings  awaiting  them.  No  longer, 
with  here  and  there  an  exception,  is  it  possible  for 
brethren  to  be  bound  together  by  the  peculiar  ties  of 


THE  IOWA  ASSOCIATION.    IT  I  LIT  IS  IT  NOW?  ioi 

pioneer  experiences.     No,  the  frontier  times #re  gone. 

There  are  other  tilings  that  have  gone,  h  was  once 
the  custom  to  exchange  delegates  with  corresponding 
bodies.  This  no  longer  obtains.  Gone,  too,  are  the 
good  old  Sabbaths  together.  In  former  times  of  prim- 
itive modes  of  travel,  many  could  not  attend  the 
Association  meetings  without  being  from  home  two 
preaching  days,  so,  for  their  accommodation,  and  what 
proved  to  be  of  benefit  to  all,  the  meetings  were  put 
towards  the  end  of  the  week  and  continued  over  the 
Sabbath  following.  The  Sabbath  dawn  found  business 
transacted  and  brought  a  day  of  quiet  rest  and  worship 
together.  Precious  days !  But  this,  too,  has  changed, 
so  easy  is  it  now  by  railroad  travel  to  come  and  go  in 
midweek. 

Other  slight  changes  there  have  been,  but  on  the 
whole  the  old,  the  essential  characteristics  are  the 
same.  The  atmosphere  of  free  good-fellowship  yet 
remains;  the  spirit  of  Christian  courtesy  and  harmony 
yet  prevails.  The  ministers  of  Iowa  as  a  rule  love 
their  Iowa  work.  The  churches,  as  they  send  up  their 
delegates  and  other  members  to  the  annual  assemblies 
are  more  and  more  interested  in  them.  The  last 
gathering  was  at  a  point  on  the  banks  of  the  great 
river.  A  church  not  of  the  largest  was  represented  by 
nearly  twenty  of  its  members,  and  some  were  there, 
both  ministers  and  laymen,  whose  homes  were  over 
two  hundred  miles  away.  The  old  spirit  of  devotion 
has  by  no  means  died  out.     The  daily  prayer-meeting 


102  THE    IOWA     BAND 

still  stands  where,  years  ago,  in  the  constitution,  it 
was  put,  in  the  middle  of  the  forenoon,  the  best  hour 
of  the  day,  its  exercises  of  all  others  the  best  attended. 
At  the  close  of  each  meeting,  with  united  hands  and 
hearts,  the  old  hymn  is  sung,  "My  days  are  gliding 
swiftly  by,"  which  for  years  has  been  a  reminder  of 
those  who  have  passed  to  the  Shining  Shore,  and  an 
inspiration  for  better  work  "while  the  days  are  going." 
Yes,  these  good  Association  meetings.  There  is  a  pow- 
er in  them  when  filled  with  the  presence  of  the  Mas- 
ter. The  fellowships  engender  strength  for  the  year 
to  come.  On  many  a  field  where  otherwise  there 
might  be  a  lonely  work,  the  sympathetic  chord  of  fel- 
lowship is  felt.  The  writer  must  here  be  allowed 
again  out  of  his  own  experience  to  testify  to  their 
value.  As  thirty-one  years  ago,  in  1870,  so  now  in 
1901,  he  can  say  that  beginning  in  1844  it  has  been  his 
privilege,  with  one  exception,  to  be  present  at  them  all ; 
a  privilege,  indeed,  in  view  of  benefits  received  and 
pleasing  memories  recorded.  Let  God  be  thanked. 
To  every  young  minister  he  would  say,  Be  an  Associa- 
tion man.  Cultivate  acquaintance  and  cooperation 
with  the  brethren.  Lead  your  church  along  the  same 
lines.  Church  autonomy  within  its  limits  is  good,  but 
there  is  a  fellowship  of  brethren  and  churches  not  to 
be  forgotten. 

The  few  illustrations  given  of  church  buildings  that 
were,  and  that  now  are,  will  suggest  in  material 
things,  at  least,  the  progress  made. 


CHAPTER    XIV 


IOWA     COLLEGE 

THE  home  missionary  is  not  only  bold  in  his  plans, 
but  it  is  curious  to  see  how,  as  by  instinct,  his 
plans  run  in  certain  directions.  Given  a  Puritan  de- 
scent, a  i'ankee  training'  and  a  sanctified  culture  in 
New  England  institutions,  and  one  may  know  before- 
hand, as  to  certain  things,  at  least,  what  he  will  be 
doing  when  first  put  into  a  new  and  Western  field. 

"If  each  one  of  us  can  only  plant  one  good  permanent 
church,  and  all  together  build  a  college,  what  a  work- 
that  would  be !"  So  said  one  of  the  Band,  as  they 
were  contemplating  their  Western  work.  So,  too, 
those  already  in  the  field  had  been  thinking;  for,  at 
the  close  of  one  of  the  first  meetings  held  at  Den- 
mark after  the  arrival  of  the  Band,  they  were  invited 

io3 


ic>4 


THE    IOWA    BAND 


to  tarry  a  few  moments  to  listen  to  plans  for  found- 
ing a  college.  A  little  surprised  were  they,  and  not 
a  little  gratified. 

Here  was  the  beginning  of  Iowa  College.  Thus 
far  back  in  home  missions  in  Iowa  must  we  go  for  its 
inception."  This  mere  seed,  as  it  germinate. 5,  takes 
root,  springs  up  and  grows,  will  develop  still  further 
workers,  workings  and  results.  Like  many  another 
Western  college  that  is  now  a  power  and  glory  in  the 
land,  it  took  its  start  out  of  prayer  and  toil  in  the  days 
of  pioneer  missionary  labor.  It  strikes  its  roots  back 
into  the  faith  and  self-denial  of  the  early  churches, 
taught  by  the  ministers  to  water  it  with  their  prayers 
and  their  gifts ;  of  its  early  teachers  and  professors, 
too,  who  consented  to  nurture  it  as  a  part  of  mission 
work,  and  one  involving  in  those  days  no  less  of  self- 
denial  and  toil  than  any  other.  These  are  features  in 
this  institution,  which,  thank  God,  have  not  yet  died 
out.  To  present  a  true  view  of  this  college,  especially 
of  its  earlier  history,  will  help  to  bind  it  anew  to  the 
affections  of  its  friends  and  may  recommend  it  to  the 
confidence  of  those  whom  God  has  enabled,  and  who 
love,  to  endow  such  institutions.  It  may  inspire  the 
feeling  that  an  institution  so  planted  and  nurtured 
must  have  the  blessing  of  the  Lord  within  it. 

But  to  draw  the  picture  with  each  color  and  shad- 
ing true  to  facts  and  experience  is  another  of  those 
things  that  by  no  human  possibility  can  ever  be  done. 

25  Note  No.  u. 


IOWA    COLLEGE  105 

From  recollection  and  records  a  few  things  only  can 
be  given.  After  the  meeting"  alluded  to,  nothing  was 
done  till  the  following  spring. 

March  12.  1S44,  a  meeting  of  ministers  and  others 
"interested  in  founding  a  college"  was  held  at  Den- 
mark, of  course,  for  this  was  at  that  day  the  center  of 
all  things.  The  plan  proposed  and  approved  was  to 
find  a  tract  of  land  subject  to  entry,  in  some  good  loca- 
tion, obtain  funds  for  its  purchase,  and  then  sell  it  out 
in  parcels  at  an  advanced  price  to  settlers  favorable 
to  the  object ;  thus  securing  an  endowment  for  the 
institution  and  a  community  in  which  it  might  pros- 
per. A  suitable  location,  therefore,  was  the  first  ob- 
ject. A  committee"5  of  exploration  was  appointed,  with 
power,  when  ready  to  report,  to  call  another  meeting. 
The  call  was  issued  for  April  16,  1844,  and  embraced 
the  Congregational  and  New  School  Presbyterian 
ministers  in  the  territory,  the  most  of  whom  were  in 
attendance.  So  favorable  was  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee, and  so  unanimously  were  all  previous  plans 
approved,  that  the  brethren  resolved  themselves  at 
once  into  an  association,  under  the  title  of  "Iowa 
College  Association,"  with  suitable  rules  and  regula- 
tions, and  appointed  Asa  Turner  as  agent  to  go  im- 
mediately to  the  East  to  obtain  the  necessary  funds 
with  which  to  pay  for  the  land,  agreeing  by  formal 
resolution  to  defray  his  expenses  from  their  own 
scanty  resources. 

-''■  I.  A.  Reed,  chairman. 


Io6  THE    IOtVA     BAND 

It  would  not  be  of  interest  to  mention  in  detail  the 
precise  date  and  circumstances  of  each  successive 
meeting'  in  respect  to  the  enterprise  thus  started.  It 
is  sufficient  to  say  that  this  College  Association  took 
charge  of  it,  until,  in  due  time,  it  was  committed  to 
a  board  of  Trustees  empowered  to  fill  its  own  vacan- 
cies, and  add  to  its  own  number.  The  two  denomi- 
nations named  were  represented  in  due  proportion  in 
this  board,  and  continued  to  be  so  represented,  until, 
in  process  of  time,  from  causes  affecting  their  rela- 
tions to  each  other  in  the  country  at  large,  the  prac- 
tical interest  of  the  Presbyterian  brethren  in  the  in- 
stitution diminished,  and  they  gradually  withdrew 
from  its  councils.  Thus  the  college  came  to  be  ex- 
clusively, as  in  point  of  interest  and  support  it  mainly 
had  been  from  the  first,  the  foster-child  of  the  Con- 
gregationalists ;  and  as  such  its  history  will  be  given. 

The  agent,  of  whose  appointment  we  have  spoken, 
repaired  at  once  to  the  East,  going  directly  to  Bos- 
ton. But  he  was  not  to  succeed.  The  College  So- 
ciety, so  called  for  the  sake  of  brevity,  had  just  been 
formed,  with  a  view  to  systematizing  and  regulating 
appeals  at  the  East  in  behalf  of  Western  colleges. 

Its  friends,  at  a  called  meeting,27  disapproved  of  the 
plans  of  the  agent,  and  recommended  that  a  good 
location  should  be  first  secured,  the  best  for  a  college, 
irrespective  of  other  considerations ;  that  donations 
should  be  called  for  outright,  a  beginning  be  made, 

27  For  minutes  of  that  meeting  see  Appendix  II. 


tOW A    COLLEGE  I07 

and  that  the  institution  trust  to  the  patronage  of  the 
Society  and  of  friends  whose  liberal  endowments 
could  eventually  be  secured.  It  seemed  like  losing 
a  grand  opportunity,  but  the  agent  returned.  The 
Western  brethren,  with  some  reluctance,  yet  cordially, 
yielded  to  the  judgment  of  their  Eastern  friends, 
some  of  whom  had  had  experience  in  the  West. 

What  the  result  would  have  been  had  their  own  plans 
been  carried  out,  it  is  impossible,  of  course,  to  tell ; 
but,  as  they  look  now  at  one  of  the  most  flourishing 
inland  towns  of  the  state,  upon  one  of  our  principal 
railroads,  with  its  water-power,  its  timber,  and  its 
prairie,  filled  and  surrounded  by  an  enterprising  popu- 
lation, right  where  it  was  proposed  to  purchase  the 
college  lands,  they  are  wont  to  say  to  each  other, 
"That  is  where  we  talked  of  starting  our  college ; 
that  is  where,  with  a  few  dollars,  we  might  once  have 
started  and  endowed  it."  What  would  have  been  the 
outcome  of  a  beginning  there  on  the  plan  proposed, 
we  do  not  know.  There  might  have  been  success ; 
there  might  have  been  failure.  One  thing  is  certain  ; 
the  plan  actually  adopted  involved  beginning  at  the 
very  lowest  round  of  the  ladder,  whence  every  step 
upward  was  of  necessity  by  the  hardest." 

The  thing  was  first  to  get  a  location  —  a  location 
for  a  college,  without  a  dime  besides,  a  cent  even,  or 
a  promise,  save  as  there  was  faith  in  prayer  and  toil. 
In  a  year  or  two,  the  minds  of  all  were  agreed  upon 

28  Independence.  Buchanan  Co. 


io8  THE    IOWA     BAND 

a  point,  which,  at  that  clay,  for  ease  of  access  and 
beauty  of  situation,  stood  forth  without  a  rival.  In 
1846  it  was  voted  to  locate  at  Davenport,  "provided 
the  citizens  would  raise  fourteen  hundred  dollars,  and 
provide  certain  specified  grounds  for  a  location." 
Each  individual,  moreover,  was  to  raise,  if  possible, 
one  hundred  dollars  among  his  Eastern  friends,  or 
elsewhere.  A  board  of  trustees  was  at  this  time 
elected. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  work,  and  much  hard 
work,  with  slow  progress.  The  next  year,  in  1847, 
it  was  found  that  the  citizens  of  Davenport  had 
pledged  thirteen  hundred  and  sixty-two  dollars  and 
thirteen  lots :  otherwise  little  had  been  accomplished. 
The  proposed  location  was  secured,  and  instructions 
given  "to  plan  and  erect  a  building,  which  shall  be 
a  permanent  college  building,  in  good  taste,  and 
which,  when  enclosed,  shall  not  exceed  in  cost  the 
sum  of  two  thousand  dollars." 

One  may  smile  at  the  idea  of  a  permanent  college 
building  in  good  taste,  within  the  cost,  when  enclosed, 
of  two  thousand  dollars :  but  that  was  a  day  of  small 
things ;  and  where  even  this  amount  was  to  come 
from,  none  could  tell.  The  trustees  and  members  of 
the  College  Association  pledged  themselves  to  make 
up  any  deficiency  there  might  be,  not  over  six  hun- 
dred dollars, — a  resolution  to  this  effect  having  been 
unanimously  adopted,  and  signed  by  each  one  pres- 
ent.    Such  was    the    care    taken    that    all    liabilities 


Preserved  Wood  Carter. 
First  larsie  Donor 


Prof.  Erastus  Ripley, 
First  Principal  and  Professor 


Prof.  Leonard  Fletcher  Parker, 

Professor  since  iS;6 


Josiah  Bushnell  ( Jrinnell, 
Founder  oi  ( mnnell 


Iowa  College  Pioneer  Helpers 


IOWA    COLLEGE 


109 


should  be  seasonably  provided  for,  and  no  debts  in- 
curred.    The  building  was  erected,  and  the  bills  paid. 

In  November,  1848,  a  school  was  opened,  under 
the  charge  of  the  Rev.  E.  Ripley,  elected  as  profess- 
or of  languages,  with  a  salary  of  five  hundred  dollars 
a  year.  There  were  appropriate  opening  exercises, 
including  an  address  and  dedicatory  prayer.  It  was 
a  windy,  wintry  day.  Not  many  were  present,  but  a 
few  were  there,  with  hearts  full  of  gratitude  to  God 
for  all  success  hitherto  in  the  enterprise  wherein  by 
faith  was  seen  a  college  for  Iowa.  As  the  brethren 
met  together  in  their  homes,  as  they  came  to  their  an- 
nual association,  they  began  to  say  "our  college." 
They  had  need  to  say  it ;  for  contingent  expenses, 
salary,  etc.,  far  exceeded  the  amounts  received  for 
tuition.  Besides,  improvements  must  be  made,  and 
more  teachers  employed. 

Here  began  the  years  of  anxiety  and  labor  — 
teachers  toiling,  trustees  planning,  and  the  executive 
committee  trying  to  execute,  meeting  often,  with 
much  to  be  done,  but  never  able  to  do  it.  When 
they  could  do  nothing  else,  they  could  at  least  pray. 
So  they  worked  and  prayed  and  worked.  Every  year, 
as  the  churches  came  together  in  their  annual  associ- 
ation, the  story  of  the  college  was  told,  its  wants  re- 
hearsed, and  their  prayers  and  alms  besought.  This 
was  not  without  response.29 

In  1849  there  were  subscribed  for  it  four  hundred 
-"'  Note  12. 


IIO  THE    IOWA     BAND 

and  forty-two  dollars  and  sixty-five  cents  —  all  but 
four  of  the  subscribers  being  ministers ;  and  the  min- 
utes of  that  year  show  the  whole  number  of  ministers 
to  have  been  twenty-one.  In  1850,  at  the  meeting 
of  the  association  in  Dubuque,  there  were  reported, 
besides  the  preparatory  department,  twenty-eight 
students  in  Latin,  eight  in  Greek.  There,  too,  it  was 
told  how  the  baptism  of  the  Spirit  had  been  sent 
down  upon  the  infant  college  as  the  seal  of  God's  ap- 
proval. There,  also,  was  reported  the  first  noonday 
prayer-meeting  of  the  students  —  a  meeting,  which, 
with  little  interruption,  has  been  kept  up  to  this  day, 
while  many  succeeding  revivals  have  been  enjoyed. 
As  the  old  tale  of  pecuniary  embarrassment  was  there 
told,  hearts  were  opened  for  relief,  and  four  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars  were  pledged.  In  the  minutes  of  that 
meeting  it  stands  recorded  that  "the  wives,  also,  of 
the  ministers,  anxious  to  share  in  the  enterprise  of 
founding  this  college,  resolved  to  raise  a  hundred 
dollars  out  of  their  own  resources ;  and  seventy  dol- 
lars were  subscribed  by  fourteen  persons  who  were 
present."  "It  was  a  great  sum  then,"  said  one  of 
them,  years  afterwards ;  "it  was  a  great  sum  then,  five 
dollars,  but  I  managed  to  pay  it." 

So  it  went  on  for  years  afterwards.  In  1852  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty-three  dollars  were  raised;  in  1853, 
seven  hundred  and  eleven  dollars.  In  this  year  came 
the  first  decided  help  from  abroad — the  donation 
from  Deacon  P.  W.  Carter  of  Waterburv.  Connecti- 


IOWA    COLLEGE  in 

cut,  of  five  thousand  and  eighty  dollars.  It  seemed  a 
great  sum.  The  interest  of  this,  and  the  aid  which 
the  College  Society  began  to  give,  together  with  the 
avails  of  our  own  efforts,  would  have  given  relief, 
only  that  increasing  wants  kept  pace  with  increasing 
means.30 

New  professorships  were  established  from  time  to 
time,  till,  in  1855,  there  were  four  professors.31  B) 
this  time  the  original  site  had  been  abandoned,  a 
new  one  of  ten  acres  secured,  and  an  elegant  stone 
building,  with  a  boarding-house,  erected  upon  it. 
This  change  was  caused  by  the  persistence  of  the  city- 
authorities  of  Davenport  in  thrusting  a  street  through 
the  grounds  first  occupied.  The  second  site  chosen 
was  divided  and  injured  in  the  same  way.  About  this 
time  the  institution  was  unfortunate  in  trusts  reposed 
in  one  of  its  officers.  As  the  state  settled  up,  there 
were  prejudices  in  the  interior  against  a  river  loca- 
tion for  an  institution  of  learning;  and  the  feeling  be- 
gan to  prevail  that,  among  the  people  of  the  place, 
it  did  not  have  so  congenial  a  home  as  it  ought. 

As  the  result  of  these  combined  circumstances,  it 
was  decided,  in  1858,  to  sell  out,  and  seek  for  a  new 
site.  God,  in  his  providence,  had  one  in  preparation. 
A  few  years  previous,  in  the  heart  of  the  state,  a 
colony  had  settled  with  the  express  purpose  of  es- 
tablishing, and  at  the  outset  had  made  provision  for, 

Note  13. 
31  Note- 14, 


112  THE    IOWA     BAND 

an  institution  of  learning.  Here  a  school  had  already 
been  commenced.  After  due  thought  and  much 
prayer,  it  was  concluded,  with  the  general  approval 
of  all  parties  interested,  that  the  fountain  opened  by 
the  Father  of  Waters  should  be  united  with  the  rill 
of  the  prairies.  Accordingly,  from  1859,  Grinnell, 
Iowa,  has  been  the  seat  of  Iowa  College. 

We  will  not  follow  its  history  in  detail  for  the  next 
ten  years.  There  are  two  noble  college  buildings  in 
an  area  of  twenty-two  acres,  to  which  the  verdure 
of  growing  shade-trees  adds  increasing  beauty  from 
year  to  year.  The  location  is  on  the  border  of  a  vil- 
lage whose  pride  is  the  college.  The  intelligence, 
morality  and  affectionate  good  will  of  the  people 
make  it  a  fit  place  for  the  education  of  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  Iowa.32  The  names  of  two  hundred  and 
ninety  of  them  are  found  enroled  as  members  of  the 
institution  during  the  past  year,  more  than  half  of 
whom  are  in  the  collegiate  and  preparatory  depart- 
ments. 

There  are  eight  instructors  —  the  president,  four 
professors,  a  principal  of  the  preparatory  department, 
a  principal  of  the  ladies'  department,  and  one  tutor. 
In  the  library  there  are  over  four  thousand  volumes, 
besides  the  smaller  libraries  of  the  literary  societies 
of  the  college.  The  apparatus,  though  far  from  what 
it  should  be,  is  yet  sufficient  to  illustrate  the  princi- 
ples of  natural  philosophy,  chemistry  and  astronomy; 

32  In  it  there  has  never  been  a  saloon,  and,  if  title  deeds  can  prevent,  there 
never  can  be, 


I  I  n  ii  m  i  pj  jj  b 
Ilji'iu  III 

HI  III 


>!- 


ii. 


First  College  Building  at  Davenport 

Second  College  Building  at  Davenport 

Iowa  College.  Gnnnell,  before  the  Cyclone  in  1SS2 

Beginnings  of  Iowa  College 


IOWA    COLLEGE  113 

while  admirable  collections  have  already  been  made 
in  mineralogy,  zoology,  botany,  etc.,  which  are  ar- 
ranged in  a  cabinet  of  rare  attraction  and  taste.  On 
the  walls  of  the  college  library  are  the  portraits  of 
Carter  and  Williston,  as  among  the  chief  donors  to 
the  college.  The  names  of  Grimes,  Ames,  Dodge, 
Richards.  Merrill,  Bntler  and  Barstow  may  be  fitly 
recorded  here,  as  of  those  who  have  largely  contrib- 
uted to  its  funds ;  and  perhaps  others  not  known  to 
the  writer  are  equally  deserving  of  mention. 

The  college  property,  in  the  aggregate,  now 
amounts  to  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  dollars, 
more  than  half  of  which  is  productive.  The  list  of 
graduates  is  not  long;  but  they  are  already  scattered 
over  the  land,  occupying  honorable  positions  in  the 
various  professions.  The  resources  of  the  institution 
are  as  yet  by  no  means  ample.  Its  facilities  must 
increase  from  year  to  year,  to  meet  the  growing  de- 
mands upon  it ;  but  beholding  it  now,  and  calling  to 
mind  how  hard  it  was  to  get  together  the  two  thou- 
sand dollars  for  the  first  humble  building,  remember- 
ing how  the  seed  was  sown,  and  by  the  nurture  of 
what  prayer  and  toil  it  has  grown,  the  contrast  is  in- 
deed pleasing.  Grateful  always  is  the  memory  of  la- 
bors past,  where  results  in  the  form  of  abounding 
frnits  are  seen. 

Before  closing  this  pleasing  review,  another  refer- 
ence may  not  be  amiss  to  him  in  whose  first  endow- 
ment, in  part,  of  the  Carter  professorship  there  was 


114  THE    IOWA    BAND 

such  courage  and  cheer.  It  was  the  pleasing  privi- 
lege of  the  writer  to  receive  a  portion  of  that  gift  at 
his  own  hands,  and  in  his  own  home.  He  was  a  plain 
man,  and  his  home  of  the  olden  stamp,  somewhat  old- 
fashioned  in  its  air,  but  ample  in  comfort,  without  ex- 
travagance or  display.  Riding  about  the  village  one 
afternoon,  in  the  old  family  carriage,  he  reined  up  his 
horse  where  a  townsman  was  building  a  residence  of 
great  elegance  and  cost.  Surveying  it  for  a  moment, 
"There,"  said  he,  "I  might  take  my  money,  and  build 
me  a  house  just  like  that ;  but  then,  if  I  should,  I 
should  not  have  it  to  give  to  Iowa  College."  It 
showed  that  he  had  considered  the  question,  and 
made  his  choice.  Who  will  say,  as  he  looks  at  Iowa 
College  to-day,  and  thinks  of  him  as  having  passed 
from  earth,  that  the  choice  was  not  a  good  one? 

O  ye  whom  God  has  blessed  with  fortunes  that  are 
ample,  now  is  the  time  of  your  choosing.  If  you  wish 
to  turn  a  portion  of  your  means  into  some  permanent, 
mighty  power,  that  shall  work  for  Christ  in  this  and 
the  ages  to  come,  how  more  surely  or  better  can  you 
do  it  than  to  help  to  build  in  this  Western  land  some 
Christian  college?  The  tongues  of  missionaries  and 
pastors  sooner  or  later  shall  be  silent  in  death ; 
teachers  change ;  but  endowments  in  these  Christian 
colleges  will  work  on,  work  ever. 


X 


I 


^i. 


Blair  Hall 

Goodnow  Hall  (Library) 

Rand  Gymnasium  for  Women 

Iowa  College  Buildings 


Chicago  Hall 


CHAPTER    XV 

COLLEGE   HISTORY    CONTINUED.     ITS    GRINNELL 
PERIOD 

TN    the    preceding    chapter    there  was  but  a  slight 
I     reference  to  the  first  years  of  the  college  at  Grin- 
nell.      It    will    be    necessary,    therefore,    at  the  com- 
mencement of  this  to  speak  of  these  more  at  length. 
Its  work  at  Davenport  was  closed,  as  we  have  seen, 
m    1858.      For   about    a    year   there    was   a    state  of 
transition.     What  did  it  take  from  its  old,  and  what 
leceive  at  its  new  location?     As    to    its    taking,    in 
material  things  there  was  but  little.     Started  as   it 
was  at  so  early  a  period,  before  a  building  for  the 
common  schools  had  been  erected  in  the  place,  eleven 
years  before  any  other  college  was  more  than  thought 
of  in  the  state,  much  could  not  be  expected.     There 
were  no  buildings,  of  course:   no  teachers,  for  they 
had  resigned  when    instruction    ceased.      The    books 
gathered    for    a    library    were    but    few.      Its    appa- 
ratus,  philosophical,   chemical,  etc.,   was  but   scanty. 
As  for  funds,  after  payment  of  debts,  there  were  left 
about  S9000.     But  it  went  with  a  good  history.     In 
those  ten  years  at  Davenport  good  work  had  been 
done.    There  had  been  ten  graduates  who,  with  other 

"5 


Il6  THE    IOWA    BAND 

students,  had  been  trained  by  its  four  professors  of 
ability  and  fitness  for  their  position.  The  majority  of 
those  ten  graduates  are  still  living,  one  of  whom  took 
an  active  part  in  the  forming  of  an  Alumni  Associa- 
tion recently  organized  on  the  Pacific  shore.  Besides 
its  character  and  history  it  took  its  board  of  trustees. 
There  went  with  it,  too,  the  loyalty  of  ministers  and 
churches  whose  hearts  were  in  it,  and  back  of  it.  As 
it  went,  it  found  a  young  community  of  intelligence 
and  enthusiasm  for  education,  with  open  arms  to  re- 
ceive it.  They  had  already  a  high  school  of  thirty- 
five  scholars  in  progress,  with  studies  shaped  for  a 
higher  institution  in  view.  There  was  a  parcel  of  land 
set  apart  for  it,  suitable  for  a  college  campus,  and  a 
building  thereon  in  process  of  erection.  These,  with 
money  subscriptions,  they  transferred  to  the  college, 
the  estimated  value  of  the  property  being  at  the  time 
$36,000.     Such  was  its  new  home. 

Like  a  healthy  plant  transferred  to  a  better  soil,  it 
at  once  took  root  and  commenced  to  grow.  In  1861 
there  was  a  freshman  class  of  twelve.  But  then  the 
war  came.  Soon  all  but  two  were  in  the  field.  Other 
young  men  came,  but  their  minds  turned  feebly  to 
Latin  and  Greek,  while  their  thoughts  were  following 
those  who  had  enlisted  in  their  country's  cause. 
Sometimes,  when  the  news  was  sad,  the  recitation 
room  even  had  no  place  for  the  lesson  either  for  stu- 
dent or  teacher,  but  gave  way  to  a  discussion  of  the 
situation,  its  responsibilities  and  demands.     One  after 


COLLEGE    HISTORY    CONTINUED  117 

another  was  missing".  Where  gone?  To  the  war.  As 
the  thickening  conflict  was  prolonged  and  the  call  for 
men  became  more  urgent,  twenty-six  enlisted  at  one 
time,8*  their  teacher  at  the  head.  The  time  came  when 
all  the  male  students  of  military  age  were  bearing 
arms.  They  were  found  in  fifteen  different  Iowa  regi- 
ments and  in  some  of  other  states.  Their  record  as 
soldiers,  and  a  tablet  hanging  inside  the  chapel  door 
on  which  is  inscribed  the  names  of  eleven  that  never 
returned,  are  witness  to  noble  service  rendered. 

But  in  due  time  the  war  was  over  and  college  work- 
was  resumed.  New  students  came  and  new  professors 
were  added.  In  1865  there  was  the  usual  number  of 
college  classes,  the  seniors  to  graduate  numbering  fif- 
teen. On  their  commencement  day  a  new  presence 
that  had  come  to  the  college  stood  before  them,  that 
of  its  first  president,  George  Frederick  Magoun.  Take 
it  all  in  all,  he  was  a  rare  man  for  the  position.  "A  su- 
perb leader,"  sa_\s  one;'4  "a  man  of  the  largest  mould, 
with  the  culture  of  Rowdoin  and  Andover  broadened 
by  contact  with  the  world." 

The  college  strengthened  and  grew.  Friendly  do- 
nors appeared  at  home  and  abroad.  Able  professors 
were  added  ;  the  roll  of  students  enlarged.  Their  rec- 
ord showed  the  institution  one  for  sound  learning  and 

S3  The  teacher  referred  to  is  Prof.  L.  F.  Parker.  He  left  behind  what  was 
more  like  a  female  seminary  than  a  college,  the  special  burden  of  which,  added 
to  that  of  domestic  duties,  came  upon- his  noble  wife,  and  was  heroically  tome. 

34  J.  Irving  Manett,  Prof,  of  Greek  in  Brown  University,  Providence.  K.  1. 
In  New  England  Magazine  for  June  1S.  1898. 


Il8  THE    IOWA     BAND 

good  character.  Yet  it  had  its  misfortunes.  In  1871 
its  first  building  at  Grinnell,  started  for  the  Grinnell 
University,  was  destroyed  by  fire.  In  1882  came  the 
cyclone.  In  its  path  of  destruction,  in  which,  as  in  a 
twinkling,  homes,  like  paper  houses,  were  scattered 
in  fragments,  leaving  thirty-six  of  their  inmates  killed 
and  a  hundred  others  maimed,  the  college  campus, 
too,  was  struck,  its  trees  mangled,  its  buildings  left  in 
ruins.  The  storm  was  over,  but  the  morning  light  re- 
vealed a  scene  of  desolation.  It  was  the  17th  of  June, 
and  all  things  were  shaping  for  another  graduation 
day.  All  eyes  were  now  turned  to  what  the  leader 
should  say.  Now  was  the  time  for  what  there  was  in 
him  to  show  itself.  "Will  you  have  commencement 
now?"  was  the  question  put.  "Yes,"  came  the  full- 
toned  reply.  "Yes,  we  will  go  right  on."  Nobly  was 
he  supported  by  the  faculty,  and  as  nobly  by  the 
students,  as,  after  helping  as  best  they  could  to  care 
for  the  wounded  and  the  dying,  they  rallied  for  com- 
mencement day.  Nor,  as  the  college  year  came 
around,  did  they  forget  to  return.  It  was  noble  in 
those  students  so  to  do,  and  noble  for  the  community 
to  spare  no  pains  in  helping  them  to  homes  and  reci- 
tation rooms  till  better  times  should  come.  And  they 
came.  The  cry  of  distress  was  heard  in  the  land  and 
not  in  vain.  The  buildings  were  restored  and  the  work 
of  the  college  went  on  till,  in  1884,  that  of  its  first  pres- 
ident was  done. 

There  was  an  interregnum   of  three   vears  before 


COLLEGE    UISIORY    CONTINUED 


119 


another  was  found.     In   [887,    the    second    president 
came,  George  A.   Gates,  just   entering  the  prime  of 

life,  lie  came  to  the  college  as  his  life  work.  A  man, 
the  soul  of  honor,  strong  in  his  convictions  and  faith- 
ful to  them.  By  his  administrative  tact  and  wis- 
dom, trustees,  faculty,  students  and  graduates  were 
brought  into  an  increasing  unity  for  the  college.  After 
thirteen  years  of  faithful  service  it  was  a  sorrow  to 
him.  as  to  all  of  us.  that  in  1900  regard  for  the  health 
of  his  family  compelled  him  to  ahandon  his  life-work 
and  seek  a  different  clime.  During  his  administration 
there  gathered  over  the  college  but  one  cloud.  It 
rose  from  its  connection  with  the  chair  instituted  for 
"Applied  Christianity."  Here  much  in  explanation 
could  be  written.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  cloud  has 
passed  away.  If  the  faith  of  any  has  been  shaken  by 
what  has  transpired,  or  through  fears  of  what  might 
be,  let  him  be  assured  that  the  college  has  not  been 
swerved  from  its  old  foundations.  Neither  faculty  nor 
trustees  have  forgotten  the  motto  upon  its  seal, 
"Christo  Duce,"  as  the  only  motto  that  can  safely  be 
followed  in  all  our  human  affairs,  educational  as  well 
as  social  and  civil.  For  another  leader  under  this 
grand  motto  the  college  is  now  looking. 

It  were  easy  here  and  pleasant,  also,  to  note  the 
names  and  characteristics  of  the  different  trustees, 
teachers  and  donors  of  the  college,  but  brevity  forbids. 
A  few  things  only  can  be  said  and  a  few  names  called, 
mainly  of  those  who  have  gone  before.     Of  the  trus- 


120  THE    IOWA     BAND 

tecs,  as  the  years  have  passed  there  have  been 
seventy-six  upon  the  Board,  all  of  whom,  with  scarce 
an  exception,  have  attended  the  meetings  at  their  own 
charges,  aggregating  a  pecuniary  contribution  to  the 
college  not  unworthy  of  mention.  At  Grinnell, 
among  the  first  to  be  added  to  their  number  was  J.  B. 
Grinnell,  the  founder  of  the  place  that  bears  his  name, 
whose  impulsive,  pushing  nature,  with  his  enthusiasm 
and  generosity,  gave  courage  and  hope  alway.  A 
man  ever  to  be  appreciated  by  town  and  college. 
There  were,  also,  Holyoke,  Herrick,  Phelps ;  plain 
men  of  sound  sense  and  good  business  judgment. 
Then  in  due  time  came  Chamberlain,  of  clear  judg- 
ment, also,  who  took  to  his  heart  the  whole  college — 
grounds,  faculty,  students  and  all— himself  a  sort  of 
balance-wheel  of  the  whole.  The  beautiful  Chamber- 
lain Park  donated  by  him,  on  which  was  built  the 
Mary  Grinnell  Mears  Cottage,  stands  as  his  memorial. 
Of  the  first  teachers  at  Grinnell  was  L.  F.  Parker, 
who,  though  not  in  present  service,  yet  continues  till 
this  day,  professor  emeritus,  still  sensitive  to  the  life 
and  interests  of  the  college,  respected  by  students  and 
beloved  by  all.  His  two  assistants,  Herrick  and  Reed, 
have  passed  away.  Another  whose  name  stands  upon 
every  catalogue  to  this  day  is  Prof.  S.  J.  Buck,  to  the 
interests  of  the  college  ever  faithful  and  true ;  the  act- 
ing official  between  the  two  presidents.  Afterwards 
came  another  Parker — H.  W.,  the  man  of  letters  and 
poetic  taste.    We  cannot  help  thinking  of  such  superb 


o 


o 


o 


COLLEGE    HISTORY    CONTINUED  121 

teachers  as  Brewer  and  Crow  and  Simmons,  who  are 
no  more.  Others  might  be  named,  some  living,  some 
dead,  some  decoyed  away  by  such  colleges  as  Bow- 
doin  and  Dartmouth  and  Oberlin,  by  universities,  as 
of  Wisconsin  and  Nebraska — a  loss  yet  a  compliment 
to  the  college. 

There  is  another  class  to  be  remembered,  the 
alumni  and  alumnae.  Here,  at  last,  as  to  the  real 
worth  of  a  college  is  where  the  test  comes ;  in  the 
character  and  work  of  those  sent  forth  for  the  world's 
service.    Where  are  they,  and  what  are  they  doing? 

Iowa  College  is  young,  but  her  record  is  well  begun. 
School,  pulpit  and  press  suggest  the  three  great  lines 
of  power.  It  is  in  these  that,  after  careful  examina- 
tion, within  a  slight  fraction  two-thirds  of  her  grad- 
uates are  found,  in  thirty-seven  states,  while  six  are 
in  foreign  lands.  As  an  educating  force  it  is  one  of 
the  recruiting  stations  for  that  grand  army  of  common 
school  teachers,  so  called,  who  are  working  at  the 
foundation  of  things,  furnishing  in  the  meantime  her 
measure  of  superintendents  and  principals ;  sending 
comparatively  not  a  few  of  her  son's  and  daughters 
to  positions  in  some  of  our  leading  colleges  and  uni- 
versities, who  by  their  writings,  scientific  and  literary, 
are  well  known,  in  some  cases  abroad  as  at  home. 

Names  are  not  to  be  paraded,  yet  a  few  will  be  par- 
doned, such  as,  beginning  with  older  graduates,  J. 
Irving  Manatt  of  Brown  University  in  Rhode  Island ; 
Jesse  Macey,  in  his  Alma  Mater ;  H.  C.  Adams,  in 


122  THE    IOWA    BAND 

Michigan  University ;  O.  F.  Emerson,  in  Adelbert 
College,  Cleveland ;  William  Albert  Noyes,  of  Rose 
Polytechnic  Institute,  Indiana,  whose  various  writ- 
ings have  made  him  prominent  as  a  chemist ;  George 
M.  Whicher,  teaching  Greek  and  Latin  in  Packer  In- 
stitute in  Brooklyn,  New  York ;  Mary  E.  Snell,  Prin- 
cipal of  Snell  Seminary,  Oakland,  California ;  Mary 
E.  Apthorp,  fifteen  years  in  Oshkosh  Normal  School, 
Wisconsin;  Elisabeth  H.  Avery,  in  Redfield  College, 
South  Dakota. 

These  are  of  the  older  graduates,  but  there  are 
others  younger  in  life  coming  along,  with  nothing  in 
the  way  of  equaling,  if  not  surpassing,  those  before. 

Of  occupations  filled  by  graduates  there  are  twen- 
ty-two, all  honorable  and  useful.  As  to  numbers,  that 
of  the  ministry  stands  fourth  in  rank.  Here,  if  there 
is  not  a  show  of  star  preachers,  there  is  what  is  better, 
a  body  of  faithful,  good  workers  in  the  vineyard.  And 
so  of  attorneys,  not  quite  but  nearly  equal  in  num- 
ber to  ministers.  Sound,  high-minded  lawyers  are 
useful  and  needed ;  the  Christian  college  helps  to 
make  such,  and  such  there  are.  The  roll  of  mission- 
aries is  gratifying,  both  as  to  number  and  character. 
It  begins  with  Hester  A.  Hillis,  sister  of  Dr.  Hillis  of 
Brooklyn,  who  went  to  India,  followed  by  George  E. 
White  and  his  wife,  also  a  graduate,  who  are  at  Mar- 
sovan,  Turkey ;  George  D.  Marsh,  of  Bulgaria ;  Mary 
E.  Brewer,  in  Sivas,  Turkey  ;  so  on  down  to  Henry  H. 
Atkinson,  now  with  his  wife  on  his  way  to  Harpoot 


COLLEGE    HISTORY    CONTINUED  123 

Fur  journalists,  the  Review  of  Reviews  at  once  sug- 
gests the  name  of  Albert  Shaw,  as  editor.  The  list 
here  is  not  long,  but  a  few  there  are  scattered  about, 
as  editors  of  their  own  or  on  the  staff  of  city  papers, 
as  Davidson,  ECasson,  Bartlett,  Ray,  \Y.  A.  Frisbie  at 
Minneapolis;  and  Warren  C.  Baker,  whose  pen  did 
good  service  among  the  forces  that  prevented  the 
Louisiana  Lottery  from  getting  a  foothold  in  North 
Dakota. 

Of  physicians,  the  list  again  is  not  long.  But  here, 
at  once,  comes  the  name  of  Hill — Gershom  H. — who 
for  twenty  years  past  has  been  .Superintendent  of  one 
of  our  asylums  for  the  insane,  and  is  himself  yet  sane. 
By  his  name  is  suggested  another  (because  in  college 
parlance  the  two  are  connected  as  the  Hill  boys)  Rev. 
James  L.  Hill,  D.D.,  who  can  be  classed  neither  as 
minister  nor  journalist  because  acting  in  both  capaci- 
ties;  having  in  a  measure  left  the  pulpit  after  two 
pastorates,  in  an  aggregate  of  nineteen  years,  to  be 
identified  with  the  organization,  literature  and  work 
of  Christian  Endeavor  societies  at  home  and  abroad — 
a  world-wide  movement  for  the  world  service. 

But  enough  of  names;  enough  to  show  what  the 
college  deserves,  judged  by  her  fruits.  Her  record 
and  standing  are  good.  We  do  not  say  that  it  is  the 
best  in  the  state,  (others  say  so),  but  we  may  in  mod- 
esty claim  that,  as  the  oldest  she  has  kept  pace  in  the 
foremost  ranks,  and  stands  among  the  best.  Her 
alumni   and   alumnae,   mindful    of   the   good   received 


124  THE    I0WA    BAND 

from  their  Alma  Mater,  are  loyal  to  her  and  she  is  not 
ashamed  of  them. 

Figures  and  statistics  often  count  for  but  little,  but 
a  few  to  represent  what  the  college  now  is  compared 
with  what  it  was  at  the  close  of  the  preceding  chapter, 
thirty-one  years  ago,  must  here  be  given.    To  the  two 
buildings  then,  six  others  have  been  added,  a  house 
for  the  president  included.    To  the  campus  of  twenty- 
two  acres,  the  beauty  of  which  nature  has  kindly  re- 
stored after  the  ravages  of  wind  and  storm,  has  been 
added  Chamberlain  Park  of  four  acres  on  the  east, 
and,  for  the  athletic  field  on  the  north,  fourteen  acres, 
forty  in  all.    Eight  instructors  then,  its  faculty  now  by 
last  catalogue  numbers  thirty-six,  besides  eight  other 
officials  such  as  librarians,  secretaries,  etc.    The  four 
thousand  volumes  in  the  library  have  increased  seven- 
fold and  those  of  literary  societies  in  like  proportion. 
The  catalogues  of  the  college  describing  its  astronom- 
ical observatory  ;  its  museum  ;  its  laboratories,  biolog- 
ical, chemical  and  physical ;  its  gymnasium  (one  for 
men   and   one   for   women) ;    its    library  and  reading 
room ;  its  athletic    grounds,    etc. — fat    volumes   now 
compared  to  the  lean  ones  of  thirty-one  years  ago — 
are  in  evidence  as  to  the  apparatus  and  furnishings  of 
a  college.     The    total    value    of   college   property,  in 
place   of  $160,000   then,   is-  now  but  a  trifle  short  of 
$800,000.     Its  list  of  graduates,  not  long  then,  is  now 
nearing  the  thousand. 

So  stands  the  Iowa  College  of  to-day,  compared 


COLLEGE    HISTORY    CONTINUED  125 

with  what  it  was  when  it  began  at  Davenport,  fifty- 
three  years  ago,  in  its  two  thousand  dollar  building-, 
with  one  teacher  and  half  a  dozen  pupils,  no  apparatus, 
no  furnishings  of  any  kind  save  the  books  to  be 
studied.  True,  much  toil,  the  lives  even  of  some,  and 
the  best  part  of  the  lives  of  others  not  a  few,  have  gone 
into  it ;  and  noble  gifts,  too,  of  the  living  and  the  dead. 
But  who  can  say  to  no  account — wasted,  thrown 
away?  No.  In  view  of  the  past  and  what,  by  the  eye 
of  faith,  is  seen  as  yet  to  be,  the  sentiment  of  one35  who 
in  the  enthusiasm  of  youth  gave  herself  to  Home  Mis- 
sionary work  for  Iowa  in  territorial  days,  in  the  words, 
"Somebody  must  be  built  into  these  foundations,"  was 
a  noble  one.  In  this  part  of  our  Home  Missionary 
work  may  the  race  of  noble  givers  to  it  and  faithful 
workers  in  and  for  it,  never  cease ! 

»  Words  of  Mrs.  J.  J.  Hill,  first  wife  of  the  one  who  gave  the  first  dollar  to 
the  College,  and  engraved  upon  her  monument,  where  with  her  husband  she 
lies  sleeping  in  the  Grinnell  cemetery. 


CHAPTER    XVI 

A    RARE    CHAPTER,    AND    SHORT 

IF,  in  conventions,  speeches,  reports  and  histories 
we  are  wont  to  speak  and  write  as  though  only 
men  were  actors  in  the  world,  then  is  the  present 
chapter  rightly  named ;  for  we  wish  here  expressly 
to  acknowledge  the  influence  and  aid  of  the  wives 
and  sisters.  As  woman's  work  in  the  war  forms  one 
of  the  rarest  chapters  in  the  history  of  our  late  na- 
tional struggle,  so  if  in  this  chapter  the  influence  al- 
luded to  in  our  Christian  work  in  Iowa  could  be  but 
truthfully  and  fully  unfolded,  it  would  indeed  be  the 
rarest  chapter  of  all. 

But  fully  to  present  the  intense  labor,  the  keen 
sympathy  and  efficient  helpfulness  of  a  home  mis- 
sionary's wife  is  not  attempted.  They  can  at  most 
only  be  suggested.  This  began  to  be  impressed  on 
one  of  our  earliest  missionaries  years  ago,  before,  by 
happy  experience,  he  knew  what  such  help  was,  by 
a  scene  well  worth  describing.  We  will  let  him  give 
it  in  his  own  words :  — 

"I  was  a  young  man,  and  it  was  the  first  year  of  my 
ministry.  Traveling  abroad  one  day,  from  my  field 
of  labor,  I  thought  I  would  make  the  acquaintance 

126 


/     RARE    CHAPTER,    AND    SH0R7 


127 


of  a  brother  minister  of  whom  I  had  heard,  but  whom 
1  had  never  seen.  I  went  to  his  house.  It  was  made 
of  logs,  with  a   shingle  roof,  with   one  room  below, 

and  the  usual  loft.  As  I  remember,  it  was  about  six- 
teen feet  square,  with  a  passage  through  it  by  a  door 
on  each  side.  On  one  side  of  the  room  was  a  stove, 
on  the  other  a  bed,  with  the  usual  display  of  kettles, 
dishes,  hats,  clothing,  etc.,  found  in  such  houses.  The 
brother  was  not  at  home.  His  wife.  ''  I  was  told,  was 
above,  and  sick.  I  was  invited  to  go  up  and  see  her. 
1  did  so,  ascending  by  a  ladder  in  one  corner. 

"There,  sitting  on  her  bed,  having,  with  evident 
exertion,  arranged  her  person  for  the  reception  of  a 
stranger,  was  the  missionary's  wife,  frail  in  form,  pale 
and  sickly  in  countenance.  Her  constitution  was  ev- 
idently fragile,  and  to  her  bodily  suffering  was  no 
stranger.  I  shall  never  forget  how  she  looked,  nor 
with  what  womanly  courtesy  she  received  me.  Her 
eye  beamed  hopefully;  and  her  smile,  though  languid, 
was  cheerful.  Xot  a  murmur  did  she  utter,  and 
scarcely  an  apology  even  for  anything.  An  air  of 
peace  and  contentment  characterized  her.  I  noticed 
that  the  whole  roof  was  a  little  askew,  as  though  it 
had  been  lifted  up,  and  turned  around,  and  let  down 
again,  with  articles  of  clothing  caught  in  the  cracks. 

''That.'  said  she,  'was  done  by  a  hurricane  we  had 
a  few  days  ago.  The  wind  blew  terribly  for  a  while 
I  was  here  all  alone,  and  thought  once  the  house  was 
going;  but  somehow  I  felt  safe.' 

3,;  First  wife  of  O.  Emerson  at  De  Witt.  Clinton  Co. 


128  THE    IOWA    BAND 

"Her  husband,  she  said,  had  gone  to  the  river  to 
get  a  load  of  lumber.  She  was  sorry  he  had  to  work 
so  hard.  He  was  lame,  and  not  strong ;  but  ministers 
in  a  new  country  had  to  do  many  things  to  which 
they  were  strangers  elsewhere.  'The  worst  of  it  all  is,' 
she  said,  'I  can't  help  him,  I  am  sick  so  much.  I  feel 
so  sorry  when  I  think  sometimes  that  I  must  be  only 
a  burden,  and  of  no  use  to  him.' 

"Then  she  went  on  to  speak,  with  her  whole  soul 
in  it,  of  the  missionary  work  in  which  he  was  engaged. 
I  tarried  for  the  night,  and,  in  the  morning,  went  on 
my  way  with  a  new  insight  into  the  realities  of  the 
mission  work.  Especially  did  I  there  begin  to  see 
how  woman  in  patience  could  endure  self-sacrifice, 
self-denial  and  toil,  and  how  keenly,  in  every  fiber 
of  her  being,  she  could  sympathize  in  all  her  hus- 
band's plans  and  labors  for  Christ.  In  after  years  it 
was  often  my  privilege  to  be  in  that  family.  Her 
health  afterwards  was  better ;  and  then  I  saw  how  a 
wife,  in  the  fortitude  of  a  trusting  spirit,  could  cheer, 
encourage  and  help  her  husband  in  his  work.  In 
other  cases  I  have  often  seen  it,  and  as  often  asked,. 
'What  could  our  brethren  do  without  their  wives?'  " 

The  first  draft  made  on  the  energies  of  home  mis- 
sionary wives  is  made  through  their  keen  sympathy 
with  all  that  pertains  to  their  husbands'  work ;  the 
next  is  in  connection  with  their  family  cares.  It  has 
often  been  remarked,  and  somewhat  truthfully,  that 
the  hardships  of  a  new  country  fall  more  heavily  on 


./    RARE    CHAPTER,    AND    SHORT 


129 


women  than  men.  A  Western  farmer,  as  a  general 
thing,  can  carry  on  his  outdoor  operations  at  the  very 
outset  quite  as  easily  on  his  new  Western  farm  a^ 
he  could  on  the  old  and  harder  lands  of  the  East. 
But,  between  the  old  Eastern  homes  and  all  the  little 
home  conveniences  of  a  long-settled  country,  and  the 
new  log-cabin  and  the  nameless  discomforts  of  a  new 
country,  the  difference  is  wide.  Here  it  is  that  bricks 
are  to  be  made  without  straw,  and  that  the  exigencies 
of  a  new  country  are  especially  hard  upon  women. 
The  experience  of  home  missionaries'  wives  is,  in  this 
respect,  the  same  as  that  of  others. 

As  was  natural,  among  the  all  sorts  of  Yankee 
questions  alluded  to  in  the  first  part  of  this  book,  as 
having  been  asked  by  the  "Band"  prior  to  their  com- 
ing West,  were  inquiries  as  to  whether  a  missionary 
should  be  married  or  unmarried,  and  whether  wives 
could  be  maintained  and  made  comfortable.  There 
came  back  but  this  one  answer  :  "Wives  are  the  cheap- 
est thing  in  all  Iowa.  Bring  wives !  Bring  Yankee 
wives,  that  are  not  afraid  of  a  checked  apron,  and  who 
can  pail  the  cow,  and  churn  the  butter."37 

It  would  not  be  safe  to  say  that  every  one  here  has 
been  able  literally  to  fill  this  bill ;  but  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  the  rude  and  rough  experiences  of  Western  life 
have  been,  and  are  now  being  nobly  borne  by  the 
wives  of  missionaries.  For  a  newly  married  couple, 
just    from    the    East,   to   begin  housekeeping  in  two 

7  From  Asa  Turner. 


130  THE    IOWA     BAND 

rooms,  with  only  a  little  stove,  and  some  boxes  for 
chairs  and  tables,  is  not  much.  There  is  a  touch  of 
romance  in  it,  with  hopes  of  better  days.  To  see  a 
missionary  pastor's  young  wife,  fresh  from  the  deli- 
cacies of  an  Eastern  city  home,*  at  Association  time, 
when  ministers  and  delegates,  and  wives  and  children, 
come  pouring  in  beyond  the  preparations  of  the  vil- 
lage to  accommodate  them,  call  for  a  farm-wagon, 
take  the  reins  herself,  and  scour  the  country  for  straw, 
till  straw  beds  are  provided,  and  placed  in  bedroom, 
entry  and  parlor  even ;  to  see  the  wives  of  the  breth- 
ren turn  in  for  days  to  help  her,  and  then  all  go  to 
meeting  together — this,  too,  is  well  enough.  There  is 
a  dash  and  novelty  in  it,  that  makes  an  occasion  long 
and  pleasantly  to  be  remembered. 

But  let  years  roll  on,  children  be  born,  and  cares 
increase ;  let  the  days  come  when  there  is  moving 
from  house  to  house,  and  perhaps  from  place  to 
place,  till  the  little  furniture,  new  at  first,  begins  to 
be  old ;  from  year  to  year  let  the  limit  of  the  little 
salary  be  most. plainly  marked,  and  the  increasing 
study  be  how  to  keep  within  it ;  let  the  necessity 
come  for  all  sorts  of  contrivances,  such  as  making 
washstands  and  toilet-tables  out  of  boxes,  turning 
worn  garments,  making  over  old  ones  for  a  new  look, 
refashioning  those  of  the  older  children  for  the 
younger — and  missionary  wives  find  that  no  small 
part  of  the  missionary  work  and  the  missionary  sacri- 

s?  Fjrst  wife  of  J.  J.  Hill  at  Garnavillo, 


./  RARE    CHAPTER,    AND    SH0R1  131 

fice  is  theirs.  Nobly  have  they  borne  it,  till  the  bloom 
of  youth  has  faded  from  many  a  cheek,  yet  cheerfully 
till  some,  overburdened,  have  fallen  by  the  way. 

But  we  have  alluded  only  to  the  less  important 
phases  of  their  work.  When  a  little  church,  with  a 
young  pastor  and  his  wife,  is  started  in  a  new  village 
hitherto  destitute  of  the  means  of  grace,  it  is  interest- 
ing to  see  what  a  change  is  soon  wrought,  and  how 
a  new  and  better  order  of  things  is  in  many  respects 
speedily  established.  Children  are  gathered  from 
Sabbath  roamings  to  Sabbath-schools ;  young  people, 
and  sometimes  older  ones,  too,  let  go  their  balls  and 
dancing-parties  for  sewing-circles  and  church  socia- 
bles ;  Christmas  trees,  children's  gatherings  of  vari- 
ous kinds  are  introduced,  prayer-meetings,  too  —  the 
ladies'  prayer-meeting  and  the  church  prayer-meeting. 

Some  among  the  flock  are  sick,  or  are  in  poverty 
and  sorrow,  and  must  be  ministered  unto ;  and  some 
are  to  be  buried  with  a  Christian  burial.  Here  opens 
a  field  for  the  wife.  We  may  say,  indeed,  that  she  is 
under  no  obligation  in  these  matters  more  than  any 
others ;  that,  when  husbands  agree  to  be  ministers, 
wives  do  not ;  and  that  they  ought  not  to  be  compelled 
to  the  double  toil  of  parochial  and  domestic  duties. 
All  true:  yet  who  would  keep  them  from  it?  Who 
would  be  willing  to  spare  this  part  of  mission  work? 
How  great  a  part  it  is ! 

But  we  ought  not  here  to  speak  of  missionaries' 
wives  alone.     In  all  our  churches  there  are  two  or 


132  THE    IOWA    BAND 

three  women  to  one  man.  These  churches  at  the 
outset,  in  the  days  of  their  feebleness,  were  composed, 
in  many  cases,  of  one  or  two  brethren  only,  sur- 
rounded by  a  band  of  noble  sisters.  Where,  then,  was 
their  strength?  What  wonder  if  there  were  some 
praying  and  talking  then,  and  voting,  too,  other  than 
that  done  by  the  brethren?  If,  in  the  days  of  our 
Saviour,  woman  ministered  to  him,  and  he  honored 
her  ministry,  if  Paul  acknowledged  his  indebtedness 
to  those  women  who  helped  him  in  the  gospel,  is  it 
not  well  for  us  to  remember  how  prominent  has  been 
woman's  influence  and  work  in  the  planting  and  rear- 
ing of  the  Iowa  churches? 

"Who  is  that?"  was  asked  of  a  lady  who  had  just 
admitted  a  stranger  to  her  door.  "It  is  the  man  I 
have  long  been  praying  for,"  was  the  reply.  "He  says 
he  is  a  missionary  sent  by  the  Home  Missionary  So- 
ciety." To  this  day  that  Christian  woman  is  laboring 
with  that  then  newly-arrived  minister,  in  the  firm  be- 
lief that  he  was  sent  of  God.  So  has  it  been  with 
many  another.  Ministers  have  not  only  been  ob- 
tained and  supported,  but  churches  have  often  been 
gathered,  and  meeting-houses  built,  more  through 
the  prayers  and  energies  of  the  sisters  than  through 
those  of  the  brethren.  As  the  world  goes,  when  bat- 
tles are  won,  generals  are  praised,  and  private  soldiers 
forgotten.  But,  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  let  it  not  be 
so.  Let  not  the  source  of  the  rarest  and  best  influence 
employed  in  the  Master's  service  be  unacknowledged.39 

39  The  experience  of  later  years  best  confirms  the  truth  of  thjs  chapter, 


M 


CHAPTER    XVII 
FRAGMENTS 

ORE  completely,  if  possible,  to  reveal  to  the 
reader  the  inner  view  of  home  missionary  life, 
we  present  in  this  chapter  a  few  incidents  from  the 
personal  reminiscences  and  experiences  of  the  breth- 
ren. Broken  sketches,  indeed,  they  will  be,  and 
diverse,  —  some  joyous  and  some  sad,  some  serious 
and  some  humorous,  but  all  true  to  the  life,  because 
real.  For  some  of  these  the  writer  is  indebted  to  the 
brethren  who  have  kindly  furnished  them  ;  others  he 
has  culled  from  old  numbers  of  The  Religious  News- 
Letter  —  the  files  of  which  are  an  honor  to,  as  they 
are  a  record  of,  the  Iowa  churches,  for  the  time  in 
which  it  was  published.  Many  a  regret  has  there 
been  that  it  ever  ceased  to  be.  From  the  pen  of  J.  C. 
Holbrook  there  are,  first,  a  few 

REVIVAL    REMINISCENCES 

"Where'er  we  seek  Him  he  is  found, 
And  every  place  is  holy  ground." 

"I  was  once  invited  to  assist  a  home  missionarv  in 
a  series  of  religious  meetings,  under  peculiar  circum- 
stances.    Although  it  was  a  considerable  village,*'  vet 

40  f^ew  Diggins,  Wis. 
133 


134  THE    I0WA     BAND 

there  was  neither  meeting-house,  schoolhouse,  hall, 
nor  other  room  large  enough  to  accommodate  a  con- 
gregation such  as  might  be  expected  to  gather,  with 
the  exception  of  a  spacious  ninepin  alley.  To  the 
astonishment  of  everybody,  and  especially  of  the  min- 
ister, the  owner  of  that  building,  which  joined  the 
liquor-saloon,  offered  without  solicitation  the  use  of 
it  for  a  protracted  meeting,  as  long  as  it  might  be 
needed ;  and  that,  too,  without  any  pay,  although  it 
was  bringing  him  in  an  income  of  ten  dollars  a  day. 
"This  offer  was  gladly  accepted ;  and  immediate 
arrangements  were  made  for  its  occupancy.  On  my 
arrival  at  the  place,  I  was  conducted  to*  this  novel 
house  of  worship,  which  I  found  fitted  up  with  seats 
made  of  rough  boards  arranged  across  the  alley  nearly 
the  whole  length  of  it.  At  one  end  a  billiard-table 
was  placed  in  position  for  a  desk ;  while  in  one  corner, 
behind  the  speaker's  stand,  were  piled  up  the  pins  and 
balls.  It  was  well  lighted  and  warmed,  and,  on  the 
whole,  constituted  quite  an  inviting  audience-room  ; 
and  when,  as  soon  came  to  be  the  case,  it  was  filled 
with  attentive  listeners,  and  pervaded  by  a  spirit  of 
true  devotion,  the  original  design  of  it  was  entirely 
forgotten.  Here  meetings  were  held  every  evening 
for  preaching  and  for  prayer  and  conference  and  in- 
quiry during  the  day,  for  more  than  two  weeks ;  and 
the  Spirit  of  God  condescended  to  be  present,  and 
render  them  profitable  and  delightful  seasons, — 
seasons    which    will    be    remembered  in  eternity  by 


FRAGMENTS 


J35 


some,  as  probably  among  the  must  precious  ever  en- 
joyed on  earth. 

"Frequently  we  could  hear  the  conversation  and  the 
noise  of  the  toddy-stick  in  the  saloon  adjoining,  sep- 
arated from  us  only  by  a  thin  board  partition  ;  but  so 
deeply  interesting  were  our  services,  that  these  incon- 
gruous sounds  did  not  disturb  us,  or  divert  attention 
from  eternal  things.  Seldom  have  I  enjoyed  such 
services  more,  or  seen  more  marked  effects  from  them. 

"During  the  progress  of  these  meetings,  there  were 
many  hopeful  conversions  —  the  exact  number  I  do 
not  remember;  and  it  is  an  interesting  and  sugges- 
tive fact  that  among  the  converts  was  the  son  of  the 
proprietor  of  the  building  in  which  we  met.  At  the 
close  of  the  series  of  meetings,  a  church  was  formed ; 
and  the  record  in  the  church  book  states  that  it  was 

'organized  on day  of ,  in  Mr. 's  ninepin 

alley."  Subsequently,  a  house  of  worship  was  erected 
for  this  congregation.  The  minister,  now  deceased, 
and  'whose  sun  went  down  while  it  was  yet  day,"  was 
afterwards  called  to  a  more  important  field,  and  was 
succeeded  for  a  time  by  one  who  is  now  one  of  our 
ablest  and  most  popular  preachers. 

"On  another  occasion  I  was  called  to  aid  a  minis- 
terial brother  in  a  protracted  meeting  in  a  considera- 
ble farming  settlement,  where  there  was  no  church 
organization  and  no  house  of  worship.  The  school- 
house  being  too  small,  it  was  decided  to  hold  the  serv- 
ices  in    a    large   barn,    the   weather   being   favorable. 


136  THE    IOWA    BAND 

There,  day  after  clay,  we  preached,  the  people  occupy- 
ing the  barn  floor,  and,  when  that  became  too  strait, 
resorting  to  the  haymows  and  bays  adjoining.  Here, 
too,  we  enjoyed  the  presence  of  God,  and  a  delightful 
work  of  grace  was  witnessed. 

"At  another  time,  while  exploring  the  country  with 
a  brother  minister,  we  came  to  a  place  of  considera- 
ble importance  at  that  day,  in  its  own  immediate  vicin- 
ity, but  occupied  in  the  main  by  a  most  godless  com- 
munity. Still,  there  was  a  little  leaven  there.  A  small 
band  of  Christians,  the  remnant  of  a  church  that  had 
once  been  organized  there,  were  praying,  and  for 
weeks  had  been  pleading  for  a  revival  of  religion  in 
the  place.  As  soon  as  it  was  known  by  them  that  two 
ministers  were  in  town,  they  at  once  took  it  as  God's 
token  for  good,  and  immediately  besought  us,  with 
an  earnestness  that  would  take  no  denial,  to  tarry, 
and  begin  without  delay  a  protracted  meeting. 

"Not  daring  to  refuse,  we  consented.  Here,  too, 
the  only  place  of  gathering  to  be  found  was  a  vacant 
storeroom  in  the  center  of  the  village.  Here,  in  a 
dimly  lighted  room,  with  drinking  and  gambling 
saloons  on  all  sides  of  us,  like  Paul  and  Barnabas, 
we  preached  the  gospel  for  two  weeks;  during  which 
the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  came  down  and  filled  the  place 
with  the  glory  of  his  presence.  More  than  thirty  per- 
sons were  converted,  and  a  church  was  afterwards  or- 
ganized, a  meeting-house  built,  and  the  morals  of  the 
place  improved,  as  the  result,  we  will  not  say  of  the 


FRAGMENTS  1   7 

preaching  but  of  the  earnest  prayers  of  those  feu 
pleading  Christians.  From  such  eases  we  are  con- 
stramed  to  say.  Let  hands  of  believers  everywhere 
even  without  ministers,  he  encouraged  to  pray  and" 
trust  the  Lord  for  help;  let  ministers  and  churches 
not  wait  for  new  houses  of  worship  or  more  favorable 
circumstances,  but  go  to  work  in  faith  and  hope  with 
such  taedu.es  as  they  have,  and  the  Lord  shall  bless 
them." 

Often,  in  new  settlements,  it  is  interesting  to  note 
the  changes  wrought  by  the  introduction  of  the  gos- 
pel ;  and  sometimes  among  the  hardy  hut  rough  back- 
woodsmen there  are  marked  conversions,  showing 
the  power  of  God  to  change  the  lion  to  the  lamb  Il- 
lustrative of  this,  J.  W.  Windsor,  of  Durango,  gives 
us  a  sketch  under  the  title  of 

THE  PET  BEAR 

"In  the  year  1845  I  was  preaching  in  the  destitute 
neighborhoods  of  the  lead-mining  region  west  of 
Dubuque.  On  my  first  introduction  to  the  settlement 
I  found  no  religious  services  at  all  and  no  observance 
of  the  Sabbath.  That  day  was  usually  spent  as  a  holi- 
day, in  carousing  and  sporting.  During  the  first  year 
of  my  labor  there.  I  did  not  know  even  a  single  family 
where  the  worship  of  God  was  observed.  Many  of 
the   miners    had    dropped    their    proper    names  'and 


138  THE    IOWA    BAND 

were  known  only  by  titles  or  names  which  indicated 
some  distinguishing  trait  of  their  character,  and  which 
had  been  given  them  by  their  companions.  In  pass- 
ing through  a  considerable  tract  of  timber  to  reach 
the  schoolhouse  where  I  preached,  I  frequently  met 
parties  of  hunters  on  a  Sabbath  morning,  and  could 
not  fail  to  hear  the  oaths  which  mingled  in  their  com- 
mon conversation. 

"After  a  while,  in  coming  upon  them  suddenly,  1 
could  hear  the  suppressed  'Hush,  hush !'  and  swear- 
ing would  cease  while  I  was  within  hearing.  This  was 
the  first  hopeful  indication  of  an  awakened  con- 
science ;  and  it  seemed  to  me  to  be  the  dawn  of  a  bet- 
ter state  of  things.  Then,  when  they  saw  me  coming, 
they  would  'break  and  scatter.'  Their  dogs,  how- 
ever, told  upon  their  masters ;  and  I  could  not  re- 
strain a  smile  as  my  eye  would  detect  a  man  here, 
and  another  there,  trying  to  place  a  tree  between  me 
and  himself,  acting  the  squirrel  to  perfection.  Here, 
too,  I  thought,  is  hope. 

"It  was  not  long  after  this  when  a  passing  shadow 
in  the  schoolhouse  window  or  doorway,  during 
preaching,  would  arrest  the  eye,  and  lead  to>  the  detec- 
tion of  listeners  without.  Then,  a  little  bolder,  and 
conscience  a  little  more  active,  they  would  lean  their 
rifles  against  a  tree,  and  themselves  stand  out  in  full 
view,  hearing  what  the  preacher  had  to  say,  or  would 
seat  themselves  on  the  doorstep ;  and  finally  they 
would  venture  into  the  house,  leaving  their  guns  out- 


FRAGMENTS  139 

side,  but  still  wearing  powder-horn  and  shot-belt 
across  their  shoulders,  and  would  sit  quiet  and  atten- 
tive listeners. 

"In  the  winter  of  1847  we  held  a  series  of  religious 
meetings.  The  Rev.  J.  C.  Holbrook  came  out,  and 
preached  ten  or  twelve  days.  It  was  a  memorable 
time  in  the  history  of  that  community.  The  word 
preached  was  attended  with  divine  power ;  and  many 
of  the  hardest  characters  bowed  to  the  mild  reign  of 
the  Saviour,  and  became  new  creatures  in  Christ 
Jesus. 

"Among  this  number  was  'The   Pet   Bear.'     His 

proper  name  was   Thomas   B .    He   was   one   of 

the  early  pioneers,  a  real  backwoodsman,  possessing 
a  powerful  frame ;  was  just  in  the  pride  of  life,  a  hard 
drinker,  and  one  of  the  most  profane  men  I  ever 
knew,  and  a  perfect  slave  to  a  passionate  temper,  that 
not  unfrequently  raged  like  a  tornado.  With  him  it 
was  a  word  and  a  blow,  often  the  last  first. 

"On  several  occasions  I  had  attempted  to  converse 
with  him  on  the  subject  of  religion,  but  was  answered 
by  a  volley  of  oaths  ;  and  I  had  learned  to  fear  coming 
in  contact  with  him.  During  the  meetings,  I  turned 
out  of  my  way  one  evening  and  stopped  at  his  cabin 
door.  He  was  there.  I  said  to  him,  'Mr.  B.,  we  are 
having  some  good  meetings  at  the  schoolhouse,  and 
most  of  your  companions  attend.  I  wish  you  would 
come:  we  shall  be  glad  to  see  you.'  Without  giving  him 
an  opportunity  to  reply.  T  bade  him  good-evening,  and 


140 


THE    IOWA    BAND 


walked  on.  To  our  astonishment,  he  entered  the 
house  with  his  wife.  A  solemn  and  searching  ser- 
mon was  preached,  in  which  the  guilt  of  the  sinner 
was  faithfully  exposed,  and  the  love  of  the  Saviour 
clearly  set  forth.  He  listened  attentively,  and  was 
evidently  affected.  Nothing  was  said  to  him ;  we 
shook  hands,  and  he  left  for  home. 

"Early  the  next  morning,  one  of  the  neighbors 
came  to  me  and  said,  'Mr.  Windsor,  I  wish  you  would 
go  and  see  "The  Pet  Bear!"  '  'Why  do  you  wish  it?' 
I  asked.  He  replied,  'There  is  something  the  matter 
with  him.  He  came  home  from  meeting  last  night 
like  a  fury.  He  sat  down  in  a  chair  before  the  fire, 
and  he  has  been  there  all  night.  I  do  not  know  what 
it  is,  but  he  is  weeping  like  a  child.  As  I  was  passing, 
his  wife  came  out  and  whispered  to  me  to  ask  you 
to  come  and  see  him.' 

"With  silent  prayer  that  God  would  teach  me  how 
to  meet  him,  and  what  to  say,  I  hastened  to  his  cabin, 
and  there  found  him  sitting  with  his  head  bowed  on 
his  hands,  between  his  knees,  and  the  tears  trickling 
down  between  his  fingers  and  falling  on  the  hearth- 
stone. I  drew  my  chair  up  to  him,  and  asked  him 
kindly  to  tell  me  the  cause  of  his  distress.  After  a 
pause,  he  looked  up  in  my  face ;  and,  with  a  look  and 
emphasis  I  shall  never  forget,  he  said,  'O  Mr.  Wind- 
sor !  I  am  the  most  wicked  and  the  most  wretched 
sinner  in  the  world,  and  I  don't  know  what  to  do; 
can  vou  tell  me?' 


FRAGMENTS  I4I 

"I  endeavored,  in  a  plain,  simple  way,  to  show  him 
the  love  of  the  Saviour,  and  his  readiness  to  pardon 
all  who  came  to  him  sick  of  sin,  and  who  desired  to 
break  a  wax  from  it,  and  give  him  their  love,  and  obey 
him.  He  listened,  and,  with  a  strange  expression, 
said,  'What !  you  make  me  believe  that  he  came  to 
seek  and  to  save  such  a  lost  sinner  as  I  am?' 

'Yes,'  I  replied  :  'he  came  to  save  the  chief  of  sin- 
ners, who  repent  and  hope  in  his  mercy.' 

'"Ah!  hut.'  he  urged,  'you  do  not  know  what  a 
wicked  sinner  I  have  been.' 

"'No,'  I  replied;  'but  the  Saviour  does;  and  he 
says  to  you,  "Come  unto  me :  I  will  in  no  wise  cast 
you  out." ' 

"I  spent  nearly  the  whole  day  with  him.     He  be- 
came calm,  and  listened  like  a  little  child.     In  a  few 
days  he  had  intelligently  given  himself  to  Christ,  and 
felt    by   joyful    experience   that    the    blood   of    Jesus 
could  cleanse  even  such  a  desperate  sinner  as  he  was. 
"He  was    no   longer    'The    Pet    Bear,'    having  by 
grace  put  on  the  nature  of  the  lamb ;  constraining  all 
around  to  exclaim,  'What  hath  God  wrought!'     He 
said  to  me,  'My  cabin  is  small,  but  it  is  at  your  serv- 
ice.    Come  and  preach  in  it ;  come  and  hold  a  Sab- 
bath-school in  it.     I  don't  know  much,  and  should 
make  out  poorly  teaching  others ;  but  I  can  talk  about 
what  Jesus  Christ  has  done  for  me.     You  know,'  he 
said,  "The  Pet  Bear"  has  been  a  faithful  servant  of 
the  devil  a  great  many  years :  now  it  is  God's  turn. 


142  THE    IOWA    BAND 

I  hope  to  become  as  faithful  a  servant  to  him  as  ever 
I  was  to  my  old  master.  I  want  you  to  tell  me  what 
I  can  do.  I  never  was  afraid  of  a  man ;  and,  since 
God  has  made  me  strong  to  work  for  him,  ought  I 
ever  to  be  ashamed  to  tell  what  a  wonderful  work  he 
has  wrought  in  me?" 

'  'You  see,'  he  said,  'I  have  been  thinking  it  over, 
and  I  know  I  shall  have  a  hard  row  to  hoe.  I  know 
it  will  be  up  stream  with  me  all  the  way.  But  then 
I  have  a  sure  Pilot  if  I  only  listen  to  him ;  and  when 
I  find  the  stream  too  rapid,  why,  I  shall  paddle  to 
shore,  and  tie  up  to  Jesus ;  and  I  know,  if  I  tell  him 
all  about  it,  and  ask  him  to  help  me  through,  he  will 
do  it.' 

"During  his  absence  from  the  house,  his  wife  told 
me,  that,  after  I  left,  on  the  preceding  evening,  she 
expected  an  outburst  of  temper ;  but,  instead  of  this, 
he  turned  to  her  and  said,  'Wife,  get  your  things  on, 
and  we  '11  go  to  meeting.'  Then  began  a  perfect  tor- 
nado of  oaths  against  himself,  occasionally  speaking 
to  himself :  'Spew  it  out,  Pet ;  it  is  the  last  time  !  Get 
rid  of  it ;  for  I  mean  to  cut  a  new  set  of  houselogs ;' 
meaning  that  he  intended  to  begin  a  new  course  of 
life.  He  went  to  the  meeting.  She  was  sure,  from  his 
manner,  that  the  sermon  had  touched  him.  On  his 
way  home,  she  said,  his  oaths  made  her  tremble;  it 
seemed  as  though  he  was  possessed  of  seven  devils. 
As  he  reached  his  cabin  door,  he  turned  to  her,  and 
said,  'There,  wife,  it  is  all  out!'  and,  with   such   an 


FRAGMENTS 


M3 


expression  as  she  had  never  heard  from  him  before, 
he  cried  out,  'O  God,  help  me  !'  He  took  a  seat  before 
the  fire,  and  scarcely  altered  his  position  during 
the  whole  night.  The  Spirit  of  God  was  dealing  with 
him,  and  he  wept  the  tears  of  a  repenting  and  return- 
ing  prodigal.  Until  I  left  that  field,  his  was  a  consist- 
ent Christian  walk." 

Such  scenes  as  the  preceding,  though  by  no  means 
uncommon,  are  not  always  connected  with  home  mis- 
sion work  in  a  new  country.  Sometimes  it  is  the 
iot  of  one  to  labor  on  with  only  gradual  changes  for 
the  better,  as  in  the  day  of  small  things,  but  laying 
foundations  for  the  future,  while  this  is  the  trial  of 
our  faith  and  hope. 

The  following  is  the  partial  experience  of  Rev.  Eb- 
enezer  Alden,  whose  lot  it  was  for  a  few  years  to  do 
pioneer  work  in  Cedar  County,  and  then  return  to 
an  Eastern  field.  It  will  be  of  interest  to  those  ac- 
quainted with  the  localities,  and  will  show,  among 
other  things,  that  the  Home  Missionary  Society  is 
not  confined  in  its  labors  to  places  where  churches 
are  organized  : 

"I  became  a  resident  of  the  county  in  the  winter 
of  1844,  and  organized  the  church  in  the  spring  fol- 
lowing,—  May  5.  It  consisted  of  three  members. 
It  was  a  rainy  day,  which  prevented  some  others  from 
being  present  to  unite  with  us.     It  was  formed  in  the 


i44 


THE    IOWA    BAND 


barroom  of  the  public  house,  or,  rather,  the  public 
room  of  the  house  where  I  boarded.  The  first  sum- 
mer I  preached  in  the  upper  room  of  the  jail,  used 
during  the  week  as  a  carpenter  shop.  The  carpenter 
was  an  avowed  atheist,  but  helped  me  to  clear  up  the 
room  for  the  meetings. 

"Subsequently  I  occupied  the  court-house  as  a 
place  of  worship,  alternating  with  the  Methodist  cir- 
cuit-rider. There  were  received  into  the  church  while 
I  was  there,  thirty-two.  I  baptized  nineteen  infants, 
attended  twenty-one  funerals,  and  married  five 
couples.  The  figures  do  not  show  much.  It  was  a 
dark  day.  a  long  trial  of  faith  and  patience.  But  the 
aspect  of  things  was  brightening  before  I  left.  Among 
other  encouragements,  a  female  prayer-meeting  gave 
promise  of  better  days.  I  preached  in  various  neigh- 
borhoods, usually  at  two,  sometimes  at  three  places 
on  the  Sabbath,  without  appointments  during  the 
week.  I  ranged  the  country  far  and  near,  having 
preaching  stations  in  every  direction. 

"Generally,  perhaps,  the  brethren  surpassed  me  in 
activity;  but  one  winter,  1845-46,  I  worked  hard.  1 
had  many  long  and  lonely  rides.  My  meetings  were 
conducted  by  myself  alone,  preaching  from  a  plan 
written  out,  but  retained  in  my  memory.  I  made  no 
show  of  notes.  My  sermons  were  talks  in  cabins,  in 
the  court-house,  in  carpenter  shops,  and  out-of-doors. 
T  knew  but  little  of  prayer-meetings,  led  my  own 
singing,  and  rode  on  horseback  the  first  two  years. 


FRAGMENTS  i4S 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  time,  1  preached  from  more 
fully  written  notes.  One  fall  I  suffered  much,  and 
was  laid  aside  by  the  fever  and  ague. 

"I  cannot  speak  of  special  outpourings  of  the  Spirit ; 
but  God  gave  me  the  privilege  of  laying  foundations, 
with  a  few  tokens  of  prospective  •  growth.  I  have 
some  remembrances  of  those  youthful  days  which  are 
vivid.  1  had  opportunities  to  see  nature  in  its  prime- 
val beauty.  For  the  pen  of  an  Irving,  those  years 
would  furnish  materials  of  surpassing  interest.  Those 
adventures  of  frontier  life,  though  but  incidental  to 
the  work  of  the  home  missionary,  will  long  remain 
with  me,  while  other  things,  perhaps  of  more  impor- 
tance, will  have  slipped  from  the  memory." 

In  looking  over  this  experience,  we  can  only  wish 
that  our  brother  could  revisit  the  scenes  of  his  former 
labors,  to  see,  in  part  at  least,  the  fruits  of  his  toil. 
"One  layeth  the  foundations,  and  another  buildeth 
thereon." 

As  showing  still  further  how  the  Home  Missionary 
Society  reaches  out  beyond  the  region  of  organized 
churches,  and  as  reviewing  the  early  history  of  Con- 
gregationalism in  Western  Iowa,  which  was  for  a  long 
time  to  Eastern  Iowa  as  a  foreign  field,  and  allowing 
here,  because  it  cannot  well  be  avoided,  the  full  names 
of  persons  and  places,  we  give  next  a  paper  presented 
at  the  Quarter-Centennial  of  the  Iowa  Association 
in    1866.  respecting: 


146  THE    IOWA    BAND 

THE  MISSOURI  SLOPE 

"Congregationalism  made  its  first  appearance  on 
the  slope  in  the  organization  of  the  Union  Church  at 
Civil  Bend  in  1849,  where,  without  any  recognized 
minister,  about  a  dozen  Christians  —  Baptists,  Con- 
gregationalists  and  Methodists  —  formed  themselves 
into  a  church,  adopted  a  creed  and  covenant,  and 
agreed  to  recognize  each  other  in  church  relations, 
and  cooperate  in  promoting  the  cause  of  Christ.  A 
flourishing  day  school  was  already  in  existence  in  the 
neighborhood.  A  Sabbath-school,  Bible-class  and 
regular  prayer-meetings  were  established,  and  at- 
tended with  a  good  degree  of  religious  interest,  be- 
fore any  minister  labored  among  them. 

"The  name  Civil  Bend  was  derisively  given  to  this 
settlement  along  the  Missouri  River  by  the  roughs 
who  so  frequently  held  high  carousal  at  the  various 
whiskey  cabins  that  fringed  the  'Big  Muddy.'  These 
breathing-holes  of  the  infernal  regions  were  known 
by  such  euphonious  titles  as  'Devil's  Den/  'Hell's 
Kitchen,'  etc.;  and,  to  designate  the  temperance 
neighborhood,  it  was  called  'Civil  Bend.'  The  resi- 
dents accepted  the  name ;  and  by  this  title  it  is  known 
to  this  day,  although  the  post-office  is  Gaston.  On 
the  1st  of  July,  1850,  the  Rev.  John  Todd,41  with  his 
family,  joined  this  settlement  for  the  purpose  of 
preaching   Christ    on    the    frontiers.      A    dwelling  of 

41  Known  as  Father  Todd,  Tabor. 


FRAGMENTS 


H7 


hewn  logs  had  been  erected  and  roofed,  out  on  the 
prairies,  for  his  accommodation,  which,  on  his  arrival, 
was  perforated,  and  supplied  with  doors  and  windows, 
and  floored  with  cottonwood  'puncheons.'  The  win- 
dow and  door  casings  were  all  the  sawed  material 
used  in  constructing  the  house  ;  and  this  had  to  be 
brought  a  distance  of  twenty-five  miles.  The  minis- 
ter's study-walls  were  curtains,  and  the  study  table 
a  puncheon  resting  on  two  wooden  pins  driven  into 
the  logs. 

"A  few  families  of  Congregationalists  from  Illinois, 
who  had  started  for  California,  stopped  on  the  banks 
of  the  Missouri,  opposite  the  Big  Platte,  twenty-five 
miles  north  of  Civil  Bend,  in  the  fall  of  1849,  an^ 
formed  the  first  out-station,  which  resulted  in  the  or- 
ganization of  a  small  church  of  ten  members,  reported 
as  the  Church  of  Florence,  subsequently  disbanded. 
Trader's  Point,  nine  or  ten  miles  above  Florence, 
about  the  same  distance  from  Council  Bluffs,  and 
nearly  east  of  where  Belleview  in  Nebraska  now  is, 
was  then  a  flourishing  village  of  Mormons  and  traders, 
of  about  thirty  or  thirty-five  houses,  where  many 
crossed  the  river  on  their  way  to  the  Great  Salt  Lake 
Valley,  That,  also,  was  made  a  monthly  preaching 
place.  It  has  long  since  been  all  sw:pt  away  by  the 
Missouri.  About  eighteen  miles  above  Council 
Bluffs,  near  the  Boyer.  a  few  Gentiles  were  found, 
who  wished  to  hear  the  gospel,  and  there  was  another 
preaching-point.     A  good  Christian  Baptist  lady,  re- 


T48  THE    IOWA     BAND 

siding  at  Stutnan's  Mills,  on  the  West  Nishnibotna, 
twenty-five  or  thirty  miles  east  of  Council  Bluffs,  sig- 
nified a  wish  to  have  Christ  preached  to  her  Mormon 
neighbors ;  and  there  another  monthly  appointment 
was   made. 

"Cutler's  Camp,  on  Silver  Creek  in  Mills  County, 
now  seven  miles  from  Glenwood,  formed  another 
point  in  the  monthly  circuit.  Linden,  too,  then  coun- 
ty seat  of  Atchkinson  County,  Missouri,  twenty-five 
miles  south-east  of  Civil  Bend,  was  then  favored  with 
a  monthly  visit  on  the  Sabbath. 

"Thus,  within  a  year  from  the  time  of  beginning, 
from  Civil  Bend  to  the  banks  of  the  Boyer,  and 
round  about  unto  Missouri,  was  the  gospel  preached. 
There  were  seven  appointments  in  the  circuit,  but  two 
of  them  favored  with  even  a  log  schoolhouse.  In  the 
autumn  of  1850,  the  Rev.  J.  A.  Reed,  a  sort  of  bishop 
in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  his  office,  accom- 
panied by  the  Rev.  G.  B.  Hitchcock,  made  a  descent 
upon  the  slope  at  Civil  Bend.  Right  glad  were  we 
to  find  that  somebody  cared  for  us,  and  that  we  were 
not  hopelessly  severed  from  the  Christian  world.  It 
then  required  a  full  month  to  exchange  letters  with 
our  friends  in  Eastern  Iowa.  Our  nearest  post-office 
was  fifteen  miles  distant.  That  same  autumn,  1850, 
Brother  William  Simpson,  the  first  regular  itinerant 
of  the  M.  E.  Church  on  the  slope,  entered  upon  the 
charge  of  Council  Bluffs,  and  came  to  Civil  Bend, 
claiming  all  Methodists  as  his.     He  proved  a  devout, 


f'h'.iCMi-xrs 


149 


genial,  working  Christian.  With  his  cooperation 
the  first  revival  was  enjoyed  during  the  second  winter 
at  Civil  Bend.  A  single  family  of  Africo-Americans, 
who  had  earned  and  paid  thousands  of  dollars  for 
their  freedom,  came  into  the  settlement,  and  were 
encouraged  to  attend  school ;  for  which,  some  who 
'had  never  attended  school  with  niggers,'  nor  any- 
body else,  for  they  could  neither  read  nor  write,  de- 
termining that  their  children  should  not  be  so  dis- 
graced, accidentally  or  by  design  burnt  down  the  log 
building  which  constituted  our  schoolhouse  and  place 
of  worship.  This  occurred  during  watch  night  of 
1850-1851. 

*Tn  June,  1S51,  the  waters  of  the  rivers,  the  waters 
of  the  uplands,  and  the  waters  above  the  firmament, 
combined  to  drive  the  people  from  Civil  Bend.  The 
river  rose  threateningly,  the  heavens  gave  forth  fre- 
quent floods,  and  the  streams  from  the  bluffs  swept 
down  in  torrents,  bearing  away  bridges,  fences  and 
all  before  them.  Five  miles  of  water  spread  out  be- 
tween us  and  the  highlands.  Sloughs  wrere  waded 
to  go  to  meeting,  where  horses  would  rhir«  down, 
and  abundance  of  buffalo-fish  were  speared  with 
pitchforks  amid  the  tall  grass.  Mosquitoes  enough  to 
dim  the  sun  and  moon  chimed  in  to  sing  the  requiem 
of  our  hopes  in  that  land  of  promise. 

"That  was  a  trying  time  to  the  itinerancy.  A  sur- 
plus of  water  and  scarcity  of  bridges  necessitated  a 
curtailment   of   the   circuit.      Florence    and    Trader's 


150  THE    IOWA    BAND 

Point  continued  to  be  visited  monthly ;  but  fighting 
mosquitoes  by  night,  and  traveling  on  horseback  by 
day,  with  regular  ague  shakes  for  variety,  were  not 
very  well  adapted  to'  make  a  Boanerges  of  our  itin- 
erant. But  no  human  lives  were  lost ;  and,  as  already 
intimated,  we  had  our  first  revival  the  following  win- 
ter. 

"In  the  fall  of  185 1,  Brother  G.  G.  Rice,  from  Union 
Theological  Seminary,  I  think,  arrived  at  Council 
Bluffs,  under  the  patronage  of  the  A.  H.  M.  S.,  and 
entered  upon  the  work  of  preaching  the  gospel.  After 
the  experience  of  1851,  on  the  Missouri  bottom,  sev- 
eral families  resolved  to  take  higher  ground,  believ- 
ing that  it  afforded  a  firmer  basis  for  the  object,  which, 
from  the  first,  they  had  in  view,  viz.,  the  establish* 
ment  of  an  institution  of  learning,  in  connection  with 
the  promotion  of  religion.  After  considerable  search, 
they  located  at  Tabor.  Three  families  moved  there, 
or  to  that  vicinity,  in  1852,  purchased  claims,  lived 
in  log  cabins ;  at  once  began  a  weekly  prayer-meet- 
ing, Sunday-school,  and  regular  preaching,  which 
have  continued  without  intermission  up  to  the  pres- 
ent time.  In  October,  1852,  a  Congregational 
church  was  formed,  with  eight  members.  This  was 
the  first  church  on  the  slope  which  assumed  the 
Congregational  name." 

This  church  at  Tabor,  it  should  be  remarked,  is  now 
the  largest  but  one  in  the  state.  The  institution  al- 
luded to  is  now  known  as  Tabor  College.     It  has. 


FRAGMENTS  151 

according  to  the  latest  published  statement,  a  presi- 
dent and  four  other  instructors;  twenty-one  student0 
in  the  college  classes,  and  one  hundred  and  four  in 
the  preparatory  department  ;  with  property  estimated 
at  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  a  library  of  twelve  hun- 
dred volumes. 

In  such  fields  as  just  described, — indeed,  in  all  new 
countries  liable  to  excessive  rains,  with  few  roads  and 
fewer  bridges, — the  missionary  needs  the  pleasant  fac- 
ulty of  making  the  best  of  things,  as  one  prime  quali- 
fication for  his  work.  Many  a  one  has  had  an  expe- 
rience similar  to  that  related  below,  though  not  al- 
ways as  happily  borne. 

GOING  TO  ASSOCIATION" 

"Last  fall,  at  the  meeting  of  this  Association  at  S., 
Brother  C.  proposed  for  our  spring  meeting  to  con- 
vene at  C.  Brother  T.  knew  nothing  of  C,  except 
that  it  was  the  home  of  our  esteemed  Brother  A.,  and 
that  it  was  situated  somewhere  'within  the  bounds' 
of  F.  County.  But  Brother  T.  was  expected  to  be 
there,  and  he  very  naturally  expected  to  see  his 
brethren  there  also.  The  meeting  was  to  be  held  on 
the  third  Tuesday  in  M.,  at  eventide ;  and  of  this  fact 
all  the  brethren  were  warned  in  due  time. 

"On    the    Monday   previous   to   this   said   Tuesday, 

42  Note  re. 


I52  THE    IOtVA    BAMD 

Brother  T.  would  needs  set  forth  in  the  ecclesiastical 
buggy,  propelled  by  the  ancient  horse,  Billy.  He  first 
made  diligent  inquiries,  however,  as  to  the  location  of 
the  said  town  of  C. ;  but  all  men  wagged  their  heads, 
and  could  do  no  more.  They  knew  nothing  of  any 
such  city.  The  maps  were  equally  silent,  and  there 
was  no  time  for  correspondence,  seeing  that  the  mail 
from  Brother  TVs  house  to  F.  County  describeth  the 
circle  of  the  greater  ram's-horn,  and  never  returneth. 
Brother  T.  was  in  a  great  quandary,  and  knew  not 
whether  to  proceed  to  the  southwest,  the  west  or  the 
northwest.  Yet  Brother  T.  was  expected  to  be  there. 
So,  after  much  dubitation,  he  concluded  to  follow  the 
wisdom  of  the  prairie-hawk ;  and,  as  the  game  was 
not  in  sight,  to  beat  about  for  it.  He  started  south- 
ward and  westward,  driving  towards  C,  which  lieth 
upon  the  S.,  and  is  a  town  fair  to  see.  Here  he  found 
a  certain  Gaius,  a  miller  of  much  substance,  whose 
daughter  is  a  miller  also.  Here  he  tarried ;  and  in 
the  evening  they  all  sang  hymns,  and  rejoiced  abun- 
dantly. In  the  morning,  mine  host,  and  the  host  of 
the  whole  church,  would  go  with  Brother  T.  to  ques- 
tion certain  men  of  his  town ;  and,  behold,  a  man  was 
found  who  had  heard  of  C,  and  knew  where  it  was, 
but  had  never  been  there.  Also  he  heard  that  the 
river  must  be  forded  at  this  place,  and  that  it  would 
be  nearer  swimming  than  fording. 

"So,  a  good  while  before  he  came  to  the  river,  he 
bade  farewell  to  his  host,  who  bade  him  good  speed. 


FRAGMENTS 


*53 


and  said,  "See  thou  art  not  drowned  in  the  river!' 
And,  after  a  while,  he  came  to  the  river.  Now,  there 
was  a  mighty  bridge  there,  and  it  was  like  secession; 
for  it  was  easy  to  get  upon  it,  and  it  carried  one  fairly 
for  a  time  ;  but  at  the  end  of  it  was  a  grievous  jump, 
and  there  was  nothing  but  sharp  rocks  and  a  quag- 
mire at  the  bottom.  Over  this  bridge  Brother  T. 
carried  all  the  contents  of  the  ecclesiastical  buggy. 
After  these  were  deposited  on  the  other  side,  he  re- 
turned and  said  to  the  ancient  steed,  'Billy,  there  is 
nothing  for  it  but  for  us  to  take  to  the  stream.' 

"So  they  addressed  themselves  to  enter  the  river. 
And.  at  the  very  first,  the  waves  flowed  into  the 
buggy,  which  caused  Brother  T.  to  raise  his  feet ;  and 
presently  the  waters  reached  the  seat,  which  caused 
the  rider  thereupon  to  go  up  higher;  and  he  sat  on 
the  topmost  rail  of  the  seat.  And  the  waters  pre- 
vailed even  to  the  arm  of  the  seat ;  and  Brother  T. 
saw  the  coat-tails  of  'divinity,'  that  they  streamed  out 
behind  upon  the  waters  of  the  river ;  and  he  was  a 
spectacle  to  certain  men  which  stood  by ;  after  which 
the  waters  abated,  and  presently  they  came  forth 
again  upon  the  dry  land. 

"After  this,  divers  other  streams  were  crossed,  and 
much  desolate  green  prairie  ;  and  at  evening,  when 
the  stars  shone,  behold,  they  were  at  the  place  C. 

"Now,  because  Brother  T.  was  the  only  minister 
that  had  arrived,  he  must  needs  preach  to  the  people; 
and,  when  the  meeting  was  done,  the  two  delegates  — 


154  THE     I0WA     BAND 

Brother  B.  of  P.  and  Brother  A.  of  M.  —  essayed  to 
have  the  Association  organized ;  but,  when  they 
looked  upon  the  record,  they  found  there  was  not  a 
quorum  present.  So  they  went  to  lodge  with  the 
people.  And  the  next  day,  Brother  T.  told  them  what 
was  known  to  him  of  the  condition  of  the  churches. 

"Now,  at  the  former  meeting,  the  brethren  had 
appointed  Brother  T.  to  read  an  essay  on  the  anni- 
hilation of  the  wicked  ;  so,  in  the  evening,  it  was  read, 
albeit  the  wicked  did  not  come  to  hear  it. 

"And  after  this,  the  hope  of  seeing  our  brethren 
vanished,  and  we  came  together  no  more.  And  :f 
those  brethren  who  came  not  had  but  known  how  the 
people  waited  for  them,  and  how  they  climbed  the 
steeple,  and  how  the  green  sea  that  surrounds  the 
place  was  swept  often  Avith  a  spy-glass  in  expectation 
of  their  approach,  they  would  have  taken  care  not  to 
have  caused  such  a  disappointment. 

"And,  besides  this,  it  was  a  shame  to  Brother  T. 
that  it  was  confidently  asserted  many  times  that  the 
brethren  were  coming,  when,  behold,  the  things  that 
were  seen  were  only  a  green  bush,  a  stray  sheep,  some 
calves,  certain  horses,  and,  mayhap,  a  few  mules ! 
These  things  ought  not  to  be  ranked  with  delinquent- 
ministers  at  such  times. 

"So,  when  all  was  done,  Brother  T.  wrote  it  upon 
the  book,  that  — 

"  'T.  Nobody  but  Brother  T.  and  two  delegates  can 
testify  to  having"  be^n  at  C.  nn  «-Tip  twentieth  dav  of 
M.,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  t86-. 


FRAGMENTS 


i5S 


*  'II.  That,  in  consequence,  nothing  was  done,  ex- 
cept that  Brother  T.  had  a  good  visit. 

"III.  That  the  Association  is  expected  to  meet 
next  fall  at  D. 

"  'IV.     That  Brother  T.  is  expected  to  be  there'  " 

Allusion  has  once  or  twice  been  made  to  Abner 
Kneeland  and  his  followers,  who  settled  upon  the  Des 
Moines  River,  near  Farming-ton.  at  a  place  called 
Salubria.  The  writer  remembers  well  a  visit  paid  to 
the  old  infidel,  nearly  twenty-five  years  ago.  He  was 
of  noble  form,  venerable  in  appearance,  and  treated 
his  visitor  courteously.  On  frankly  telling  him  that  I 
had  come  to  see  him  simply  out  of  curiosity,  "Yes," 
he  replied,  pleasantly;  "I  suppose  I  am  about  as  much 
of  a  show  as  an  elephant;"  and  then  expressed  his 
readiness  to  converse  on  any  topic  or  answer. any 
questions  I  might  choose.  In  private  intercourse,  his 
infidelity  and  atheism  were  of  the  boldest  kind,  and  his 
public  lectures  gross.  In  derision  of  the  marriage 
institution,  he  used  to  say.  "Tie  the  tails  of  two  dogs 
together,  and  they  will  fight.  Allow  them  to  go  free, 
and  they  will  be  good  friends."  He  and  his  followers 
were  quite  zealous  and  successful,  at  first,  in  sowing 
the  seeds  of  their  infidelity  among  the  new  settlers  by 
pamphlets,  periodicals,  public  lectures,  etc.  Ridicule 
of  "priests,"  making  sport,  sometimes  mock,  of  sacred 
things,  entered  largely  into  all  their  efforts.  But  a 
view  of  the  positions  they  assumed,  and  the  manner 


156  THE    IOWA     BAND 

in  which  they  tried  to  defend  them,  can  best  be  seen 
in  the  following  account  given  by  one  whose  first  min- 
istry was  in  the  midst  of  them,  —  the  Rev.  Harvey 
Adams : 

THE  INFIDEL  CELEBRATION 

Early  one  afternoon  in  the  month  of  August,  1847, 
a  colporteur  of  the  American  Tract  Society  called  at 
our  house,  and  told  me  there  was  to  be  a  great  cele- 
bration in  the  Kneeland  neighborhood ;  and,  as  he 
desired  to  see  what  they  would  say  and  do,  he  said  he 
should  attend,  and  wished  me  to  accompany  him. 
As  the  distance  was  short,  it  being  only  a  mile  to  the 
place,  with  staff  in  hand  we  were  soon  there.  The 
gathering  was  in  a  charming  grove  on  the  east  bank 
of  the  beautiful  Des  Moines.  The  object  of  the  gather- 
ing was  to  celebrate  the  anniversary  of  Mr.  Knee- 
land's  liberation  from  prison  in  Boston,  to  which 
place  he  had  been  sentenced  for  blasphemy.  There 
were  present,  of  both  sexes  and  of  all  ages,  about  a 
hundred  and  fifty ;  so  they  claimed ;  yet  probably  not 
more  than  half  of  these  were  very  skeptical  in  their 
views ;  the  others  came  simply  as  spectators.  A  plat- 
form was  erected  for  the  speakers,  and  seats  were  pre- 
pared for  the  ladies.  The  men  stood  round  about  in 
a  circle.  When  we  arrived,  the  speaking  had  com- 
menced. On  our  joining-  the  company,  the  snap  of  the 
eye,  the  sly  glances   and  the  jogging  of  one  another, 


FRAGMENTS  157 

seemed  to  say.  'There's  a  priest  among  us:  he'll  have 
a  good  time  !' 

The  speeches  were  spiced  with  such  condiments  as 
these : 

"We  are  not  indebted  to  Christianity  for  the  first 
practical  good.  What  has  it  done?  Look  at  Spain! 
Look  at  Mexico!  Tn  early  days,  Mexico  was  a  par- 
adise. Her  people  were  among  the  most  virtuous  and 
happy.  But  ever  since  Columbus,  the  Christian  mis- 
sionary, came  over  and  converted  them  to  Christian- 
ity, they  have  been  miserably  degraded  and  wretched. 
We  glory  in  infidelity.  We  wear  it  as  the  cloak  for 
our  virtues,  just  as  the  Christians  wear  Christianity 
as  the  cloak  for  their  vices." 

Cries  of,  "Yes,  yes!  that's  so!"  came  from  the 
crowd  ;  and  one,  who  evidently  spoke  for  my  special 
benefit,  said,  "There  was  St.  Gregory,  who  was  cov- 
ered with  sin  six  feet  deep." 

At  the  close  of  the  speeches,  a  pressing  invitation 
was  given  the  writer  to  "take  the  stand."  This  was 
declined,  with  the  remark  that  I  came  merely  as  a 
spectator;  and  that,  if  T  spoke,  I  could  not  expect  to 
change  their  views.  "He  dare  not  speak  without  a 
pulpit  before  him.  'Twont  do  where  there  can  be  a 
reply,"  said  an  old  man. 

As  advantage  would  be  taken  of  my  silence,  the  in- 
stant resolve  was  formed  to  say  something  if  there 
should  be  a  favorable  apportunity.  Nor  was  there  need 
of  waiting  long.     The  ladies  withdrew  to  prepare  the 


158  THE    IOWA    BAND 

dinner,  while  the  men  all  closed  up  thick  around  "the 
priest" — this  being  the  term  by  which  they  always 
designate  a  Christian  minister. 

The  two  champions  of  the  day  were  large,  gray- 
headed  men,  who  literally  "stooped  for  age."  One 
of  them  was  an  apostate  from  a  Baptist  church  in 
Vermont,  and  the  other  from  a  Presbyterian  church  in 
Pennsylvania.  They  placed  themselves  directly  be- 
fore me,  and  stood  leaning  forward  on  their  canes. 
I  was  seated.  Compared  with  myself,  they  were  al- 
most giants. 

In  giving  the  sequel,  for  convenience  I  will  call  one 
of  them  Dr.,  as  he  was  a  physician,  the  other  McB. 
and  "the  priest"  H.  M.,  for  Home  Missionary.  The 
doctor  was  sour  in  look,  crabbed  and  bitter  in  speech. 
McB.  was  more  courteous,  but  oily  and  sarcastic.  No 
sooner  had  they  placed  themselves  thus  before  me. 
than  they  commenced  catechizing,  thus : — 

McB.  —  "As  I  take  you  to  be  a  philosopher  and  a 
theologian,  I  should  like  to  ask  a  few  questions,  if  you 
have  no  objection." 

H.  M.  —  "Certainly  you  can.  Perhaps  I  shall  not 
be  able  to  give  you  satisfactory  answers  ;  but,  if  you 
ask  civil  questions,  I  am  bound  to  give  civil  replies, 
as  far  as  I  am  able." 

McB.  (very  smoothly).  —  "Well,  just  for  the  pur- 
pose of  information,  will  you  please  to  tell  us  how 
large  the  Holy  Ghost  is?" 

The  point  of  this  was  that  they  were  materialists, 


FRAGMENTS 


!59 


and  did  not  believe  in  any  such  thing-  as  spirit;  and, 
therefore,  if  I.  '"a  philosopher  and  theologian,"  could 
not  tell  how  large  the  Holy  Ghost  was,  of  course  I 
must  be  the  next  passenger  bound  for  Salt  River. 

H.  M. —  "That  is  rather  a  tough  question,  Air. 
McB.;  but  when  yon  are  attacked  with  something 
like  the  bilious  colic,  and  distressed  almost  to  death, 
and  feel  as  though  another  gripe  or  two  would  take 
your  life,  how  large  is  the  pain?*' 

At  this  there  was  a  general  laugh,  and  the  question 
was  dropped  as  quickly  as  though  it  had  gone  to  ob- 
livion. 

McB. —  "Man  does  what  he  does  under  the  influ- 
ence of  circumstances  over  which  he  has  no  control. 
He  is  not  responsible  for  his  actions,  because  he  can- 
not help -them." 

//.  .1/.  —  "And  so  yon  came  all  the  way  to  this  cele- 
bration by  means  of  circumstances  which  you  could 
not  control?  And  all  the  rest  have  done  the  same 
thing?" 

McB. —  "Certainly.  Show  me  a  thing  that  is  not 
the  fruit  of  circumstances." 

H.  M.  —  ''Then  the  priests  do  what  they  do  to  de- 
stroy infidelity  and  atheism  through  circumstances 
they  cannot  control.  But  how  comes  it  to  pass  that 
yon  consider  them  so  criminal  for  what  they  do?  Why 
do  yon  speak  of  them  as  the  enemies  of  the  race,  as 
von  have  done  to-day?  Why  not  rather  commend 
their   efforts?      More   especially,    why    do    yon    cele- 


160  THE    IOWA    BAND 

brate  the  day  of  Mr.  Kneeland's  sentence  and  impris- 
onment? The  Bostonians  did  what  they  did  under 
circumstances  they  could  not  control."  [A  good  deal 
of  laughing.] 

McB. —  "But  it  is  the  circumstances.  Men  cannot 
control  the  circumstances  of  one  of  their  actions." 

H.  M.  —  "Then  if  I  take  my  cane,  and  give  you  a 
sound  drubbing  over  the  head,  I  may  sing  all  the  way 
home  to-night  ?  And  you  will  charge  it  all  to  the  cir- 
cumstances?    You  will  not  consider  me  at  fault?" 

McB.- — "Yes.  I'll  punish  the  circumstances:  1 
won't  punish  you."      [A  loud  laugh.] 

H.  M.  —  "That  's  very  generous  ;  but  do  you  act  on 
that  principle?  Suppose  some  one  against  whom  you 
hold  a  note  should  come  to  you  and  say,  T  know,  that, 
as  men  use  language,  I  owe  you  ;  but  I  never  intend 
to  pay.  I  would  not,  if  I  could  as  well  as  not.  Cir- 
cumstances do  not  compel  me  to  pay,  and  I  shall  not 
do  it.'  Would  you  not  treat  him  to  a  constable?" 
[Cries  of  "Good  !  good  !"] 

McB.  —  "All  this  hair-splitting  about  would  and 
would  not,  right  and  wrong,  good  and  evil,  guilt  and 
innocence,  is  a  humbug.  These  terms  all  amount  to 
the  same  thing.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  right  and 
wrong." 

H.  M.  —  "I  knew  that  would  follow  from  your  doc- 
trine, though  I  did  not  know  that  you  would  so  openly 
avow  it.  But  will  you  tell  us  why  you  employ  these 
terms  so  freely  yourselves?  and  more  especially  when 


FRAGMENTS  n,, 

you  speak  of  the  priests?"  [Cries  of  "Good!"  with 
laughter.]  "And  then,  too,  most  certainly,  if  I  give 
you  a  real  drubbing  with  my  cane,  you  cannot  say 
that  1  do  any  harm  or  wrong;  for  there  is  no  such 
thing.  Not  one  of  the  priests  has  ever  done  any. 
Now,  to  try  your  principle,  suppose  I  take  my  cane, 
and  make  a  serious  experiment  on  your  head?" 

McB.  (very  emphatically).  —  "I  don't  like  —  that 
illustration  about  the  cane."  [A  roar  of  laughter.] 
"The  amount  of  it  is,  when  we  speak  of  doing,  or 
when  we  speak  of  right  and  wrong,  or  of  the  mind, 
soul,  spirit,  and  the  like,  we  use  words  without  mean- 
ing. There  is  no  such  thing.  That  which  is  not 
material  is  nothing." 

//.  .1/.  —  "Doctor,  you  and  I  have  had  a  little  con- 
versation on  this  point  before  ;  but  as  we  did  not  get 
through,  and  it  is  now  up  again,  I  should  like"  — 

Dr.  (very  sourly). — "None  of  your  gospel  pettifog- 
ging. I  know  yon  have  your  visions  and  dreams,  and 
soul  and  spirit,  and  Holy  Ghost  and  all  that  in  your 
Bible;  but" — [Cries  from  the  crowd,  "Doctor,  let 
him  go  on  ;  let  him  go  on  !'] 

H.  M.  —  "You  may  call  it  pettifogging,  or  what 
you  please,  doctor:  I  will  try  to  talk  common  sense, 
but  am  ready  to  leave  it  to  the  company  whether  1  do 
or  not.  If  I  understand  yon.  Mr.  McB.,  you  say  that 
that  which  is  not  material  is  nothing." 

McB.-  "Yes.  That's  it.  Immateriality  is  an  ;b- 
surditv." 


1 62  THE    IOWA    BAND 

H.  M.  —  "You  will  admit  this  general  law  of  nature, 
that  'like  produces  like,'  I  suppose." 

McB.  —  "Oh,  yes !     No  one  can  dispute  that." 

H.  M.  —  "So  that  all  thoughts,  all  the  products  of 
the  mind,  whatever  we  call  them,  are  really  matter." 

McB. —  "Most  certainly." 

H.  M.  —  "And  have  the  attributes  of  matter ;  that 
is  to  say,  the  mind,  the  soul,  and  all  thoughts,  have 
length,  breadth,  thickness,  weight,  and  the  like." 

McB.  —  "Certainly.  It  is  absurd  to  talk  of  a  thing 
which  is  not  material." 

H.  M.  —  "Very  well.  When  we  communicate 
thoughts,  we  communicate  matter,  we  .communicate 
shape,  size  and  weight.  That  is  understood.  Now. 
then,  if  you  two  old  men  continue  to  talk  to  me,  and 
I  receive  your  thoughts  without  making  any  reply, 
you  will  reduce  yourselves  to  skeletons ;  and  I,  though 
small,  bid  fair  to  become  a  pretty  corpulent  man." 
[The  woods  rang  with  laughter.] 

The  call  to  dinner  now  came,  and  my  two  infidel 
friends  seemed  to  be  very  glad  of  it.  But  they  had 
become  very  good-natured.  I  was  invited  to  partake 
with  them,  and  was  conducted  to  the  head  of  the 
table.  When  seated,  and  while  the  waiters  were  serv- 
ing, the  doctor  asked  me  if  I  could  partake  without 
"grace."  The  reply  was,  that,  if  they  did  not  desire 
that  I  should  publicly  invoke  a  blessing,  I  was  not 
limited  to  that  method  of  doing  it..  Soon  after  this, 
the  doctor  said  to  those  near  him,  but  for  mv  benefit. 


FRAGMENTS  163 

"He  cats  with  publicans  and  sinners."  To  this  I 
could  not  help  replying,  "Thank  you,  doctor.  Happy 
to  see  you  recognize  the  distinction." 

Dinner  being  over,  and  the  furniture  removed,  the 
tables  were  arranged  in  a  row,  and  seats  placed  upon 
and  in  front  of  them  for  the  ladies ;  while  the  gentle- 
men were  formed  into  a  semicircle,  facing  the  ladies. 
The  toast-master  conducted  the  "priest"  to  the  center 
of  the  half-circle,  and  a  little  in  advance  of  it,  where 
every  one  could  see  him.  And  now  for  the  toasts  and 
sentiments.  One  was  read,  and  cheers  called  for.  But 
the  crowd  were  silent,  as  if  at  a  funeral.  Another,  and 
a  third ;  but  with  no  response.  After  what  had  passed, 
the  company  did  not  feel  like  giving  cheers  to  such 
sentiments.  Volunteers  were  called  for.  One  man 
gave  out  a  sentiment,  and  lifted  up  his  arms,  and  ex- 
claimed, "Hoo — ra !"  but  his  was  the  only  voice. 
Among  the  volunteer  sentiments,  this  was  one : 
"Eighteen    hundred    and    fourteen   years   ago,    Jesus 

Christ  was  imprisoned  for  blasphemy  ;  and years 

ago,  Abner  Kneeland  was  imprisoned  in  Boston  for 
the  same  crime ;  the  latter  a  philosopher,  the  former 
a  juggler." 

The  design  of  their  toasts  and  sentiments,  as  well 
as  of  all  the  previous  speeches,  seemed  to  be,  to  de- 
liver themselves  of  the  gall  and  spleen  they  had  treas- 
ured up  against  priests,  priestcraft,  and  Christianity 
in  general.  They  probably  also  intended  to  confirm 
such  as  misrht  be  doubtful.     Rut  the  celebration  had 


164  THE    IOWA    BAND 

a  very  different  result.  The  crowd  evidently  left  with 
the  conviction,  that,  whatever  might  be  said  against 
Christianity,  certainly  infidelity  had  not  many  attrac- 
tions. 

I  am  not  aware  that  any  of  that  gathering  have 
since  been  active  in  propagating  it.  From  that  time 
to  this,  there  has  not  been  another  celebration  of  the 
kind,  that  I  have  heard  of.  They  have  not  met,  as 
before,  to  hear  infidel  lectures  on  the  Sabbath.  The 
one  whom  I  have  called  McB.  renounced  his  infidelity 
subsequently ;  and  it  is  reported  that  he  died  with  the 
hope  of  the  Christian.  Since  that  time,  also,  I  have 
atended  many  funerals  among  those  families ;  and,  in 
one  case,  when  three  young  persons,  belonging  to 
three  different  families,  were  buried  at  the  same  time. 
They  had  been  drowned.  Many  have  been  the  acts  of 
courtesy  and  kindness  shown  to  the  writer  by  individ- 
uals who  were  previously  of  that  belief. 

In  the  retrospect,  I  am  satisfied  that  all  the  lectures 
I  ever  gave  on  the  evidences  of  Christianity  accom- 
plished little  for  the  purpose,  compared  with  the  con- 
versation here  detailed.  This  was  not  sought  or  cov- 
eted. There  was  clearly  a  providence  in  it  all.  It  was 
one  of  a  number  of  occurrences  which  have  been  over- 
ruled to  destroy  infidelity  in  that  region.  To  God  be 
all  the  honor. 

But  these  sketches  have  been  sufficiently  extended. 
They  illustrate  a  few  of  the  varied  phases  of  mission- 


FRAGMENTS  165 

ary  life.  We  might  add  more,  which  would  bring  out 
scenes  in  the  home  circle,  sometimes  partaking  of  the 
sad,  in  hours  of  affliction,  in  remote  settlements,  away 
from  friends,  where  husbands  have  preached  the 
funeral  sermons  of  wives,  a  father  of  children  :  but  we 
forbear.  As  to  that  infidel  colony,  its  hopes  are 
blasted.  The  leaders  being  bold,  but  blasphemous, 
their  efforts  for  political  ascendency  in  the  country, 
and  to  set  at  naught  sacred  tiling's  by  mock  funerals, 
and  in  other  ways,  soon  overreached  themselves.  The 
people  became  disgusted  as  they  saw  the  tendency 
and  the  aim.  A  strange  series  of  deaths,  too,  among 
them,  had  its  effect.  Better  things  came  in ;  and 
Kneelandism,  as  an  organization,  is  a  thing  of  the 
past. 


CHAPTER    XVIII 

LOSS  AND  GAIN 

HOW  often,  when  for  duty's  sake,  for  the  sake  of 
Christian  service  to  be  rendered,  we  enter. upon 
some  path,  expecting  and  consenting  to  the  loss  of 
many  things,  we  find,  that,  of  all  others,  that  was  the 
very  path  to  be  chosen  for  real  gain  !  "He  that  loseth 
his  life  for  my  sake  shall  find  it."  Solomon  chose  wis- 
dom, and  God  gave  him  both  wisdom  and  riches. 
Twenty-five  years  ago,  every  one  thought  it  a  great 
sacrifice  for  a  minister  to  go  West :  no  one  would  go 
except  at  the  stern  call  of  duty.  As  between  an  East- 
ern and  a  Western  settlement,  the  advantages  then 
seemed  to  be  entirely  with  the  former.  Well  is  it  re- 
membered how  a  rhetorical  production  by  one  whose 
face  was  turned  westward,  under  the  title  of  "Induce- 
ments to  go  West,"  was  then  received  by  us  at  the 
Seminary.  It  was  with  a  sort  of  smile,  as  much  as  to 
say,  "Well,  it  is  a  happy  faculty  to  look  at  the  bright 
side  of  things ;  and,  if  one  is  going,  he  may  as  well 
make  the  best  of  it."  Little  was  it  then  thought  that 
what  appeared  fancy  was  but  half  the  sober  truth ! 
Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  a  Western  life  has  been, 
or  is,  all  gain  and  no  loss;  but,  looking  over  the  past. 

166 


LOSS   AND    GAIN  167 

let  us  strike  a  balance  in  this  regard,  and  see  where  it 
stands. 

Twenty-five  years  ago,  one  of  the  first  things 
thought  of  by  one  contemplating  the  Western  work 
was  health.  It  was  supposed  that  he  must  have  the 
fever  and  ague,  probably  a  bilious  fever;  and,  at  any 
rate,  must  go  through  a  process  of  acclimation,  the 
issue  of  which  must  determine  whether  he  could  stay 
in  the  country  or  not.  We  smile  now  at  the  way  we 
used  to  think  of  this.  Some  of  us,  indeed,  have  had 
the  fever  and  ague,  and  some  have  not.  There  have 
been  some  deaths  ;  and  from  some  families  children 
have  been  taken,  one  after  the  other,  till  the  record 
has  become  a  sad.  sad  one.  But  so,  doubtless,  it 
would  have  been  elsewhere.  Taking  the  Band  for  a 
sample,  it  surely  cannot  be  said,  that,  in  the  matter  of 
health,  there  has  been  loss :  we  should  say,  probably 
gain.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the  same  number  of 
their  classmates  who  chose  an  Eastern  settlement 
have  been  more  highly  favored  than  they.  In  the 
case  of  no  one  is  it  certain  that  his  health  was  injured 
by  coming  West ;  while  in  others  it  has  been  im- 
proved, and  life,  doubtless,  has  been  prolonged.  One 
of  them  at  least,  perhaps  more,  can  say,  that,  for  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  he  has  never  lost  a  single 
appointment  from  ill  health,  nor  more  than  a  dozen 
from  any  cause. 

Next  to  the  matter  of  health,  it  is  natural  to  con- 
sider that  of  support  and  home  comforts.     This,  per- 


1 68  THE    IOWA     BAND 

haps,  does  not  at  first  enter  much  into  the  calculations 
of  those  proposing  to  labor  in  the  ministry  at  the  East 
or  West ;  but  it  comes  up  sooner  or  later,  and  may 
be  properly  considered.  Four  hundred  dollars  a  year, 
twenty-five  years  ago,  was  about  the  highest  limit  of 
missionary  salary.  That  sum  now  seems  small  indeed. 
It  did  then.  But  with  beef  and  pork  at  two  or  three 
cents  a  pound,  corn  twelve  and  a  half  cents  a  bushel, 
and  other  products  of  a  fertile  soil  in  proportion,  it  is 
easy  to  see  that  a  little  money  would  go  a  great  way. 
True,  clothing,  furniture,  books,  etc.,  were  higher  than 
at  the  East,  and  expenses  in  this  direction  had  to  be 
curtailed.  Missionary  families,  like  all  other  families 
in  a  new  country,  had  to  dispense  with  a  great  many 
things  considered  indispensable  in  an  Eastern  home. 
But  they  managed  to-  get  along  somehow.  Gifts  came 
in  sometimes  from  the  people.  Missionary  boxes  met 
many  an  exigency.  Occasionally,  some  books  or 
ther  remembrances  came  from  Eastern  friends. 
As  living  expenses  have  increased,  missionary 
grants  have  grown  larger.  Sometimes  the  home 
missionary,  driven  to  buy  a  little  place,  because  too 
poor  to  rent  one,  or  wishing  to  get  a  little  foothold 
for  a  home,  has  found  himself,  by  the  rise  of  prices  in 
a  thrifty  village,  actually  gaining  in  property.  Mean- 
time, the  churches  have,  many  of  them,  become  able 
to  give  more  ample  support.  Taking:  it  all  in  all,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  presumed  that  those  longest  in 
the  field  have  no  cause  of  complaint.    Perhaps,  in  the 


LOSS    AND    GAIN  169 

end  they  are  just  as  well  off,  and,  on  the  whole,  have 
been  as  comfortably  provided  for,  so  far  as  the  real 
necessaries  of  life  arc  concerned,  as  if  they  had  been 
in  Eastern  settlements.  They  have  had  to  dispense 
with  many  things,  at  times,  that  they  might  have  had 
elsewhere  :  and,  perhaps,  were  their  wives  called  upon 
to  testify  at  this  point,  they  might  say  at  once  that  the 
advantage  was  with  the  Eastern  settlement ;  not  be- 
cause they  are  quicker  to  complain  than  their  hus- 
bands, but  because,  as  before  stated,  the  privations  of 
a  new  country  fall  most  heavily  within  their  peculiar 
province.  Still,  claiming  a  little  advantage  for  the 
West  on  the  score  of  health,  we  are  willing  to  let  that 
and  this  balance. 

Next,  let  us  look  at  mental  development.  A  man's 
surroundings  will,  of  course,  have  an  influence  upon 
his  mental  habits  and  intellectual  culture.  The  time 
was,  when  the  advantages  in  this  respect  seemed 
nearly  all  with  the  Eastern  field.  As  to  many  things 
they  were.  "Early  introduction,"  says  a  distinguished 
writer/3  "to  active  labor  in  an  extended  field,  partak- 
ing of  a  missionary  and  itinerant  character,  may, 
amidst  much  usefulness,  spoil  a  man  for  life  in  all  that 
regards  progress  of  erudition,  and  productiveness  of 
the  reasoning  powers."  True,  in  the  old  and  narrow 
field  there  may  be  the  more  quiet  study, more  help  from 
books  and  literary  intercourse,  more  time  to  elaborate 
and  polish.     There  may    be,    moreover,    among    the 

'"■   Horace  Bushnel'. 


170 


THE    IOWA     BAND 


hearers  a  more  rigid  demand  for  this  sort  of  excel- 
lence  in  sermonizing,  creating  in  the  preacher  an  am- 
bition to  produce  it.  But,  possibly,  right  here  in  the 
strong  point  of  many  a  preacher  is  his  very  weakness. 
His  hearers  demand,  and  his  life  is  worn  out  in  sup- 
plying, what,  while  admired,  fails  to  bless.  But  we 
are  to  compare,  not  criticize. 

The  Western  man,  on  the  frontier  work,  as  was  that 
of  all  Iowa  once,  suffers  right  here  some  loss.  Here 
are  felt  some  of  his  greatest  privations,  and  some  cf 
his  greatest  self-denials  are  practised.  His  trial  is 
not  that  he  has  to  wear  a  seedy  coat,  as  good  perhaps 
as  his  brother  Christians  about  him  wear;  nor  that, 
in  his  travels  of  a  wet  season,  he  occasionally  gets 
"sloughed,"  or  has  to  swim  the  stream.  This  is  just 
what  his  neighbors  do,  and  is  nothing  in  a  new  coun- 
try. But,  if  he  takes  a  paper,  he  reads  of  books  which 
he  can  never  see.  He  thinks  of  ministers'  meetings, 
and  the  culture  of  literary  fellowship  among  his 
brother  ministers,  which  he  can  never  enjoy.  Ex- 
changes, even,  are  out  of  the  question.  His  duties 
call  him  much  abroad  out  of  his  study,  if  he  has  one  ; 
and  when  in  it,  he  groans  in  spirit,  sometimes,  that  it 
is  SO'  poorly  furnished  with  the  needful  helps.  But  this 
Western  field  has  its  advantages,  too,  even  in  the  mat- 
ter of  intellectual  development.  The  impression 
twenty  years  ago  is  not  quite  right,  —  that,  if  a  man 
goes  to  a  Western  missionary  field,  he  must  once  for 
all  abandon  all  thoughts  of  mental  culture  and  growth, 


LOSS    AND    GAIN  171 

Men  arc  to  be  studied,  as  well  as  books;  and  the  con- 
tact of  mind  with  mind  is  a  vigorous  mental  stimulus. 
Place  now  a  young  minister  in  some  new  Western 
settlement,  where,  in  his  line,  nothing  yet  is  estab- 
lished, nothing  even  started;  where  everybody  and 
everything  about  him  is  on  the  quick,  earnest  move ; 
where  are  commingled  from  all  quarters  every  shade 
of  prejudice,  opinion  and  belief;  and  where  ail,  with 
the  trammels  off,  are  free  to  speak  out  just  what  they 
think,  and  he  must  have  some  earnest  mental  work. 
Every  inch  he  gains  here  he  must  get  by  a  sort  of  con- 
quest. Aside  from  the  constant  readiness  which  he 
must  have  for  hand-to-hand  conflicts  in  his  neighborly 
calls,  the  right  arm  of  power  in  his  public  preach- 
ing must  be  the  plain  Bible  truth,  aimed  straight 
at  the  mark,  with  an  earnestness  that  means  some- 
thing. His  hearers,  if  he  gets  hearers  at  all,  must 
be  drawn  together  and  held  together,  not  by 
the  force  of  family  or  social  relations,  not  by  the 
beauty  of  the  sanctuary  where  they  meet,  nor  by  the 
excellence  of  the  singing;  but,  in  the  absence  of  all 
these,  it  may  be.  by  the  presence  of  one  among  them, 
positive  and  strong,  whose  preaching  and  whose  life 
are  calculated  to  produce  the  blessed  fruits  of  the  gos- 
pel. In  all  the  demands  of  a  growing  country,  he  must 
be  a  practical  man.  If  he  makes  for  himself  a  place, 
holds  it.  and  builds  upon  it,  he  will  and  must  be  an 
intellectually  growing  man.  We  do  not  say  that 
Western  men  are  more  completely  developed  intel- 


172 


THE    IOWA     BAND 


lectually  than  Eastern,  but  that  their  position  is  not, 
on  the.  whole,  unfavorable  in  this  respect.  Thrown 
upon  their  own  resources,  and  standing  at  the  head  of 
growing  influences,  which  they  are  called  upon  to 
gather,  to  hold  and  to  guide,  they  themselves  are 
compelled  to  grow  in  mental  strength,  energy,  breadth 
of  views  and  high  Christian  aims.  There  are  advan- 
tages here,  which,  for  all  the  purposes  of  earnest  Chris- 
tian work  in  the  world,  we  must  claim  as  items  of 
especial  gain. 

The  absence  in  a  new  country  of  established  cus- 
toms, usages  and  precedents,  has  been  alluded  to  as 
one  of  the  disadvantages  of  a  Western  field.  The 
young  man  who  takes  an  Eastern  church  has  the  way 
prepared  before  him.  In  many  respects,  he  has  only 
to  keep  things  as  they  are,  with  tried  men  as  advisers, 
and  staid  Christians  to  help.  To  start  anew  in  a  new 
country  is  to  start  without  any  such  aids.  But  even 
this  has  its  advantages.  Besides  helping  to  draw  out 
of  the  minister  all  there  is  in  him,  it  is  often  of  use, 
both  to  him  and  his  little  church,  to  be  free  from  the 
trammels  of  previous  customs  and  habits.  Churches 
get  into  bad  ways,  as  well  as  into'  good  ones.  Much 
as  we  revere  the  memory  of  our  Puritan  Fathers,  all 
wisdom  was  doubtless  not  with  them.  We  do  not 
suppose  that  New  England  churches  and  institutions 
are  such  perfect  models  that  there  can  be  no  im- 
provement upon  them  ;  neither  do  we  think  that  every 
change,  proposed  or  actual,  is  an  advance.     But  on 


LOSS   AND    GAIN  173 

this  Western  field,  if  anywhere,  with  the  Word  of  God 
for  our  guide,  and  freedom  to  adapt  ourselves  to  actual 
wants  and  circumstances,  we  should  improve  even 
upon  the  excellences  of  the  past.  In  some  respects, 
as  already  indicated,  there  ought  to  be  among  us, 
better  churches,  better  colleges,  and  better  methods 
of  doing  things,  than  in  older  regions.  In  our  peculiar 
freedom  to  adopt  new  expedients  and  plans,  there- 
fore, we  claim  one  advantage.  If  we  do  not  use  it  for 
improvement,  it  is  because  we  lack  wisdom  or  grace, 
or  both,  to  make  the  most  of  our  opportunity. 

"But  there  is,  of  course,  a  loss,"  it  will  be  said,  "as 
to  the  privileges  of  refined  society,  in  going  West." 
To  this  we  say,  "In  your  refined  society,  so  called, 
there  is  much  that  is  artificial,  formal  and  sometimes 
hollow.  "We  have  learned  that  there  is  such  a  thing 
as  being  civilized  and  refined  almost  to  death.  Ex- 
perience has  proved  it  to  be  a  real  luxury  at  times  to 
get  out  of  the  conventionalities  of  artificial  life,  into 
the  frank  atmosphere  of  true'  'log-cabin  hospitality.'  " 
The  free-and-easy  ways  of  new-country  socialities  we 
heartily  put  down  as  on  the  side  of  gain,  rather  than 
of  loss.  Indeed,  those  of  us  who  have  been  here 
longest,  almost  sigh  for  things  as  they  used  to  be 
twenty  years  ago  ;  when  all  were  more  upon  a  level, 
when  every  house  was  open  and  every  latch-string 
out.    No  one  need  fear  loss  in  this  direction. 

Some  ministers,  even,  may  like  to  be  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  newspapers,  where  names  somehow  creep 


174  THE    10WA    BAND 

out  in  public  print ;  and  near  anniversaries,  and  plat- 
forms, and  speeches  to  be  heard, — and  made.  There 
is  in  this  a  pleasure,  and  a  kind  of  privilege.  The  only 
gain  we  have  to  suggest  here  is  that  involved  in  labor- 
ing away  from  all  such  influences  in  the  main,  away 
from  all  appeals  to  pride  and  ambition,  in  a  kind  of 
obscurity  and  isolation,  where  the  true  motives  of  the 
ministerial  work  have  a  better  chance  to  operate,  and 
where,  as  they  are  felt,  and  they  alone,  purer  and 
richer  rewards  of  ministerial  labor  are  realized. 

There  is  one  more  point  to  be  considered,  in  re- 
spect to  which  all  will  doubtless  concede  that  the 
Western  field  has  the  decided  advantage.  It  is  the 
privilege  of  helping  to  make  things ;  of  growing  up 
with  them,  and  seeing  the  fruit  of  one's  labors.  "I 
would  rather,"  said  an  old  settler,  —  "I  would  rather 
help  build  a  log  schoolhouse,  and  see  things  grow, 
than  live  in  a  country  that  is  all  made."  Notwithstand- 
ing the  hardships  of  a  new  country,  there  is  little 
doubt  that  the  generation  that  makes  a  country  en- 
joys it  better  than  one  that  takes  it  after  it  is  made. 
The  pioneer  minister  shares  in  all  this  work  of  con- 
struction. It  may  be  in  many  respects  a  hard  work. 
He  begins  low  down,  but  at  every  upward  step  he  has 
a  peculiar  joy.  He  sees  a  little  flock  gathered  almost 
as  "a  flock  in  the  wilderness."  He  joyfully  shares 
their  first  communion  season.  The  earthen  plate  and 
glass  tumbler  are  in  due  time  exchanged  for  a  real 
communion  service.     He  sees,  in  different  directions. 


LOSS    AND    GAIN  175 

gospel  institutions  and  influences  beginning-  to  take 
shape  around  him.  At  length  a  meeting-house  is 
built.  This  is  for  him  a  great  day.  He  sees  how  that 
new  house  of  worship  helps  to  make  for  him  nearly  a 
new  congregation,  a  new  Sabbath-school,  and  of  him- 
self almost  a  new  minister.  Most  of  all  does  he  re- 
joice, when,  in  connection  with  this  new  sanctuary,  as 
is  often  the  case,  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  comes  down, 
and  the  spiritual  keeps  progress  with  the  material. 
Men  who  gave  of  their  money  for  the  material  temple 
are  often  the  first  to  be  brought  as  lively  stones  into 
the  spiritual  building. 

So  he  goes  on,  with  fresh  joy  at  every  step.  Home 
missionary  churches  become  self-sustaining,  and  their 
pastors  find  themselves  in  a  developed  country,  with 
the  fruits  of  their  labors  about  them.  The  frontier 
fields  of  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  are  now  in  the 
heart  of  the  country ;  and  those  who  entered  them 
with  the  feeling  that  they  were  going  so  far  away  as 
scarcely  ever  to>  be  heard  from,  find  that  they  were 
striking  for  the  very  centers  of  position  and  power. 
1  his.  however,  was  by  the  direction  of  God's  wisdom, 
not  theirs.  In  all  this  there  is  great  gain.  He  who 
labors  from  year  to  year  with  an  Eastern  church,  that, 
by  dint  of  hard  work,  simply  holds  its  own,  is  doing  a 
good  work.  He  who  in  faithfulness  stands  by  a  waning 
church,  whose  young  people  are  all  leaving,  renders 
a  noble  and  self-sacrificing  service.  In  each  case 
there    is    faith    and    heroism ;    but,   if    God  will,  it  is 


176  THE    IOWA     BAND 

pleasanter  to  see  results  accomplished,  to>  feel  the 
throb  of  enterprise  and  progress  around  us,  and  to 
see  new  forces  fast  accumulating-,  through  which  the 
little  we  do  shall  tell  for  good  in  the  ages  to  come. 
In  this  is  our  special  gain. 

Some  may  dislike,  possibly,  the  first  relations  in 
which,  so  far  as  our  denomination  is  concerned,  the 
process  just  alluded  to  in  this  Western  country  is 
generally  begun — the  relations  of  a  home  missionary 
in  connection  with  a  little  home  missionary  church 
or  some  new  place  yet  churchless.  But  is  there  not 
something  good,  yea,  noble,  even  in  this?  When  one 
thinks  of  the  prayers  offered  for  home  missionaries, 
is  it  not  good  to  be  one  of  them?  When  one  thinks 
of  the  Christian  donors  who  give  so  freely  for  home 
missions  at  the  West,  is  it  not  good  to  be  an  almoner 
of  their  bounties?  When  one  thinks  of  what  it  is  to 
plant  and  foster  a  Christian  church  in  a  new  country, 
he  may  well  rejoice  in  the  work,  and  gladly  accept  the 
relations  in  which  so  many  are  coworkers  with  him. 
Bringing  his  little  church,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  up 
to  self-support,  he  may  well  feel  that  his  work,  though 
humble,  is  yet  a  great  and  good  one.  He  who,  on 
mission  ground,  has  done  it  once,  twice  or  thrice,  is 
an  honored  servant  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  Sur- 
veying thus  the  past,  we  claim  no  honor,  no  great- 
ness, but  bless  God  for  opening  before  us  a  field  in 
relation  to  which,  as  we  balance  the  loss  and  the  gain 
as  compared  with  fields  that  might  have  been  found 


LOSS    AND    GAIN 


177 


nearer  our  Eastern  homes,  we  are  constrained  to  say, 
Xo  loss  :  especially  gain  !** 

Were  youth  renewed  with  our  past  experience,  we 
are  quite  sure,  if  allowed  of  God,  we  would  strike  for 
?ome  new  field,  only  careful  that  it  were  small  enough 
for  us  at  the  first,  and  then  to  grow. 

4i  The  experience  and  observation  of  after  years  emphasize  the  truth  of  this 

chapter  also. 


CHAPTER    XIX 

IN    MEMORIAM 

HITHERTO  my  life  has  been  preparatory.  I 
want  to  live ;  yes,  when  I  think  what  God  will 
do  for  Iowa  in  the  next  twenty  years  I  want  to  live  and 
be  an  actor  in  it."  Thus  exclaimed  one  who  came  here 
to  labor  in  the  ardor  of  youth,  but.  was  early  called 
to  die. 

Looking  back  through  our  quarter  of  a  century, 
we  recall  others  who  also  have  fallen  by  the  way.  It 
is  due  to  them,  and  meet  for  us,  that  they  should  have 
a  place  in  these  reminiscences.  The  names  of  all,  of 
course,  cannot  appear ;  only  such  as  stand  freshest  in 
mind  as  we  take  our  backward  look. 

The  words  quoted  at  the  opening  of  this  chapter 
were  those  of  the  one  first  taken,  and  he  from  the 
Band.  This  was  Horace  Hutchinson.  He  died  at 
Burlington,  March  7,  1846.  He  was  a  native  of  Sut- 
ton, Massachusetts,  a  graduate  of  Amherst  College 
in  1839,  and  of  Andover  Seminary  in  1843.  His  dis- 
ease was  hereditary  consumption,  against  which  he 
had  been  struggling  for  years.  Not  quite  thirty  years 
of  age,  having  been  permitted  but  little  over  two  years 
to  prosecute  his  Master's  work,  to  which  he  had  be- 

178 


IN    MEMO  RUM  ^o 

come  ardently  attached,  and  for  which,  by  his  natural 
enthusiasm  and  richness  of  intellectual  culture,  no  less 
than  his  culture  of  heart,  he  was  eminently  fitted,  and 
just  settled  most  happily  in  his  domestic  relations,-— 
it  was  no  wonder  that  he  felt  that  he  was  just  ready  to 
live,  and  wanted  to  live ;  that  it  was  hard  to  die.  Yet 
he  was  cheerful,  resigned  and  ready.  His  end  was 
peace. 

What  a  breach  was  made  in  our  ranks,  not  only  as 
we  missed  the  light  of  his  cheerful  face,  and  the 
warmth  of  his  genial  nature,  but  felt  that,  in  all  plans 
for  Iowa,  the  benefit  of  his  sound  judgment  and  hearty 
aid,  on  which  we  had  begun  to  rely,  were  so  soon  re- 
moved!  How,  by  this  early  death  among  us,  was 
our  work  more  seriously  and  devoutly  apprehended ! 
How  keen  was  our  sympathy  with  her  who  was  thus 
early  called  to  exchange  bridal  robes  for  weeds  of 
mourning!  Though  removing  soon  after  from  the 
territory,  and  entering  into  new  relations  in  a  neigh- 
boring state,  she  was  still  reckoned  as  one  of  us.  Mrs. 
Hutchinson,  for  a  time  Principal  of  Abbott  Female 
Seminary  at  Andover,  Massachusetts,  was  subse- 
quently married  to  the  Rev.  S.  J.  Humphrey,  April  18, 
1854,  and  died  at  Newark,  Ohio,  August  18,  i860. 
She  was  born  at  Grafton,  Massachusetts,  Feb.  20,  1823. 
Thus,  by  that  first  death,  did  God  teach  that  there 
were  paths  of  sorrow  for  us  to  tread,  as  well  as  of 
hope,  success  and  joy.  The  lesson  has  been  again  and 
again  repeated.     Tt  will  be  pardoned,  perhaps,  if  we 


180  THE    IOWA    BAND 

follow    these    providences    first    in    reference    to    the 
Band. 

Four  years  passed  away  before  the  second  came. 
Eliza  C.  Robbins  died  at  Muscatine,  July  16,  1850. 
She  was  a  native  of  Canterbury,  Connecticut ;  born 
June  7,  1819;  was  married  Sept.  27,  1843,  and  started 
in  a  few  days  as  one  of  the  only  two  wives  in  that  first 
journey  westward.  Her  lot,  as  has  been  told,  was 
cast  in  what  was  then  called  Bloomington,  now  Mus- 
catine. She  accepted  it  heartily.  With  natural  over- 
flow of  good  feeling,  and  a  happy  turn  in  all  circum- 
stances, she  easily  accommodated  herself  to  the  num- 
berless annoyances  and  discomforts  of  a  new  country. 
In  no  home  were  the  bachelor  brethren  more  welcome 
than  in  hers.  Putting  everybody  at  ease  in  her  pres- 
ence, she  won  rapidly  upon  the  hearts  of  the  people. 
For  seven  swift  years  did  she  act  her  part,  singing 
as  she  went,  with  a  joyous  heart ;  and  then  her  work 
was  suddenly  ended.  The  cholera,  that  for  a  summer 
or  two  raged  on  the  river,  seized  her  as  a  victim,  and 
in  a  few  hours  she  was  dead.  Behind  her  were  left  a 
stricken  husband,  three  little  children,  a  bereaved 
people,  and  many  mourning  friends,  —  mourning,  yet 
comforted  ;  for  a  cheerful  light  plays  about  the  sadness 
of  that  hour  as  they  remember  how  she  passed  away 
in  the  strength  of  that  beautiful  psalm,  "The  Lord  is 
my  shepherd,"  which  was  read  to  her  by  a  kind  Chris- 
tian friend  in  the  moments  while  she  was  still  con- 
scious, but  unable  to  speak. 


IN    MEMORIAM  !8i 

Two  years  later,  a  third  bereavement  came.  In  this 
case,  too,  a  wife  was  taken.  Sarah  E.  Hill  died  May 
21,  1852.    She  was  born  in  Bath,  Maine,  Aug.  8,  1823, 

and  was.  therefore,  twenty-nine  years  of  age.     As  a 
worker,  she  was  confined  to  a  few  short  years  ;  but 
they  were  years  filled  with  the  glowing  enthusiasm  of 
an  ardent  soul.     Entering  with  zeal  on  the  mission 
work,  she  attached  herself  at  once  to  every  thing  in 
Iowa.  All  the  brethren,  all  the  sisters,  all  the  churches, 
everything  in  and  about  her  adopted  state  was  hers. 
Into  every   plan    and    method    of    mission  labor  she 
threw  her  whole  soul.     The  college,  now  in  its  pros- 
perity, is  the  result,  in  part,  of  her  faith  and  her  gifts. 
It  is  not  strange  that  to-day  her  two  sons,  as  Chris- 
tian young  men.  are  on  the  list  of  its  students  ;  for, 
in  their  infancy,  she  gave  them  heartily  and  believ- 
ingly  to  the  Lord.    After  the  labors  of  eight  years,— 
some  of  them  at  frontier  points,  where  mission  work- 
meant   hardship  and    privation —  she   has  found   her 
grave  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi.     Summer  by 
summer  there  are  those  passing  up  and  down  the  river 
who    are    wont    to    think,    "There  on  those  beautiful 
bluffs  was  our  sister  buried."    How  soon  all  such  trav- 
elers shall  cease ! 

A  few  more  years,  and  God  spake  again  ;  this  time, 
also,  by  the  removal  of  a  wife  and  sister.  As  her  name 
is  written,  all  who  knew  her  will  remember  her  quiet, 
gentle  ways,  the  sweetness  of  her  disposition,  the 
steady,  humble  traits  of  her  Christian  character,    Nat- 


182  THE    IOWA     BAND 

urally  retiring,  she  found  her  province  and  her  sway 
chiefly  in  the  realms  of  domestic  life,  and  yet  won  es- 
teem and  influence  in  wider  circles.  It  was  with  ap- 
prehension that  we  saw  the  paleness  of  her  cheek, 
amid  the  devotion  of  a  wife  and  the  cares  of  a  mother ; 
hut  we  feel  now  that  it  was  meet  that  a  spirit  like  hers 
should  be  taken  to  a  better  world.  Harriet  R.  Ripley 
was  born  at  Drakesville,  New  Jersey,  Sept.  13,  1820, 
and  died  at  Davenport,  April  4,  1857,  at  the  age  of 
thirty-seven. 

It  remains  for  one  more  lesson  to  be  noted.  This 
time  it  is  the  death  of  a  brother ;  bringing  us  down  to 
March  31,  1867.  Then  died,  in  Ottumwa,  B.  A. 
Spaulding,  the  second  of  the  Band  now  deceased.  He 
was  truly  a  man  of  God.  Possessed  of  more  intellect- 
ual worth  than  it  was  his  ambition  to  show,  his  aim 
was,  in  a  frontier  field,  in  the  true  home  missionary 
spirit,  to  lay  foundations  for  Christ.  This  he  did  in 
many  a  heart  and  in  many  a  place.  At  the  first,  his 
was  preeminently  the  work  of  an  evangelist.  Travel- 
ing on  horseback  over  the  New  Purchase,  he  had 
twenty-five  or  thirty  different  places  of  meeting,  some 
of  them  a  hundred  miles  apart ;  preaching  in  groves 
and  cabins,  and  organizing  churches,  where,  ten  years 
before,  had  been  the  Indian  dance.  For  years  he  toiled 
thus,  till,  in  due  time,  it  was  his  privilege  to  see  the 
heaven-pointing  spires,  to  hear  church-going  bells, 
and  to  welcome  new:  laborers  in  that  at  first  wild  and 
uncultivated  region, 


IN    MEMORIAM 


183 


It  was  in  these  years  that  he  subsequently  declared 
that  he  had  more  joys,  amid  greater  hardships,  than 
at  any  other  period  of  his  life.  Gradually  his  labors 
were  contracted  within  narrower  limits,  till  he  be- 
came the  pastor  of  the  church  in  the  place  he  at  first 
selected  as  his  home,  and  where  he  died.  It  was  his 
privilege  to  be  an  actor  in  the  twenty  years  for  which 
Brother  Hutchinson  longed;  and  yet  he  was  not  sat- 
isfied. His  disease,  too,  was  consumption;  and,  as  it 
began  to  be  apparent  that  he  must  yield  to  it,  his 
words  were,  "Oh,  to  do  more  for  Jesus  !  Oh,  for  ten 
years  to  live,  and  do  something  for  Christ !"  But  his 
work  was  done ;  and  he  was  resigned,  as,  on  a  Satur- 
day night,  the  death-shades  gathered  thick  about  him. 
"Is  this  the  dark  valley?"  he  inquired.  Being  told 
that  it  was,  ''It  will  not  be  long,"  he  said.  "Will  it 
last  till  morning?"  It  did  last  till  morning.  At  the 
Sabbath  dawn  he  passed  up  to  the  day  of  rest.  He 
was  born  in  Billerica,  Massachusetts,  July  20,  1815  ; 
was  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College  and  Andover 
Seminary.  Dying  March  31,  1867,  he  was  fifty-two 
}ears  of  age.     He  left  a  wife  and  one  child. 

We  have  now  noticed  where  a  husband  or  a  wife 
has,  in  repeated  instances,  been  taken.  Meanwhile, 
children  have  been  born,  and  children,  too,  have  died  ; 
but  of  them  we  cannot  speak  in  detail.  We  must  be 
content  with  this  bare  recognition  of  God's  chastening 
hand  in  their  removal.  Changes  have  been  going  on 
outside  the  Band.     A  few  names  will  be  given,  such 


184  THE    IOWA     BAND 

as  are  freshest  in  the  mind  of  the  writer.  In  other 
minds,  doubtless,  there  are  other  names  not  given, 
just  as  fresh  and  just  as  worthy  of  mention  as  those 
that  will  appear. 

First,  as  intimately  associated  with  that  of  Mrs. 
Hill,  because  near  as  to  time  and  place,  was  the 
death  of  Brother  Thompson.  William  A.  Thompson 
died  May  3,  1852.  All  who  were  in  the  state  at  that 
time  remember  the  mystery  that  shrouded  this  calam- 
ity. Judging  from  his  intentions  when  he  left  home, 
and  the  position  of  his  horse  and  buggy  when  found, 
it  was  thought  that  he  must  have  been  drowned  in  at- 
tempting to  row  a  frail  skiff  across  an  arm  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, in  high  water  and  a  boisterous  wind.  There 
were  suspicions  of  foul  play,  but  they  were  not  re- 
garded as  well  founded.  For  weeks  search  was  made 
for  his  body  in  vain.  Standing  by  the  newly-made 
grave  of  our  sister,  upon  the  bluffs  overlooking  the 
waters  of  the  Mississippi,  the  thought  was,  "There, 
somewhere,  is  the  grave  of  our  brother."  The  follow- 
ing June,  as  the  brethren  were  holding  their  annual 
Association  at  Muscatine,  a  few  were  walking,  at  a 
leisure  hour,  by  the  river's  side,  when  a  human  body 
was  seen  floating  towards  the  bank.  Was  it,  could  it 
be,  that  of  their  brother?  This  was  the  question  that 
flashed  on  their  minds.  It  soon  appeared  almost  to  a 
certainty  that  it  was  even  so ;  yet  to  identify  the  body 
was  difficult.  Of  the  signs,  they  were  not  absolutely 
sure,     A  garment  sent  to  the  anxious,  wearv  wife  es- 


IN    MEMORIAM  1S5 

tablished  the  fact.  Thus,  sixty  miles  below  where  the 
sad  accident  occurred,  God  brought  to  us  the  consola- 
tion that  at  least  the  body  of  our  brother  had  been 
found.  We  buried  it  in  the  same  ground  where  was 
buried  the  first  sister  taken.  Brother  Thompson  was 
a  good  man,  humble,  earnest  and  prayerful.  Enter- 
ing the  state  at  the  same  time  with  the  brethren  of  the 
Band,  he  was  reckoned  as  one  of  them.  His  loss  was 
deeply  felt  by  all. 

Those  here  in  the  autumn  of  1853  remember  the  joy 
occasioned  by  the  arrival  of  two  young  men,  appar- 
ently in  the  vigor  of  life,  directly  from  their  seminary 
studies.  Mysterious  has  always  seemed  their  fate. 
One  of  them,  as  he  entered  his  field,  seemed  to  labor 
as  with  the  blessing  of  God  on  him — a  young  man  of 
rare  mental  and  social  qualities  and  ardent  piety. 
How  astounding  was  the  news  of  his  sudden  illness 
and  death !  Strong  were  the  sympathies  that  his 
young  wife  carried  back  with  her  to  her  Eastern 
home.  The  brother  here  referred  to  was  E.  C.  A. 
Woods,  who  died  at  Wapello,  Nov.  4,  1854.  Born  in 
Newport,  New  Hampshire,  September,  1824,  he  was 
thirty  years  of  age.  , 

The  other  was  Oliver  Dimon,  who  went  to  Keosau- 
qua.  By  his  excellences  he  won  the  affections  of  his 
people.  But  disease  was  on  him,  and  he  soon  be- 
came prostrated  and  was  carried  back  to  his  Eastern 
home  to  die. 

Similar  to  these  cases  was  that  of  another,  who  had 


1 86  THE    IOWA     BAND 

been  trained  among  ns.  Joseph  Bloomer  was  con- 
verted in  one  of  our  churches,  at  one  time  a  member  of 
our  college,  though  he  graduated  at  Amherst  in  1856. 
From  the  first,  so  eager  was  he  to  be  in  the  field,  that 
he  could  not  wait  the  usual  course  of  study.  It  was 
well,  perhaps,  in  his  case,  as  one  destined  to  early 
death,  that  he  did  not.  He  went  to  McGregor  late  in 
1857.  His  labors  were  limited  to  a  few  brief  months; 
but  they  were  months  of  much  zeal  and  great  promise. 
The  people  felt  the  power  of  an  earnest  preacher 
among  them.  "Sharper  sermons,"  said  one,  "I  never 
heard  than  fell  from  his  lips.  I  do  not  know,  but, 
under  God,  he  would  have  converted  the  whole  town 
had  he  lived."    He  died  suddenly,  Feb.  21,  1858. 

Another  called  from  his  work  on  earth  was  L.  R. 
White.  He,  too,  was  a  young  ,man  ;  though  he  was 
permitted  to  labor  several  years  among  us,  —  first  at 
Le  Claire,  then  at  Summit  and  then  at  Brighton.  At 
Le  Claire,  with  great  labor,  he  secured  the  erection  of 
a  house  of  worship.  Many  a  one  knows  the  toil  re- 
corded in  that  brief  sentence.  At  Brighton  he  did  the 
same  thing.  The  sad  fact  in  our  memories  is  that  the 
first  gathering  held  in  the  new  meeting-house  was  that 
convened  at  his  funeral.  His  death  was  occasioned  by 
a  cold,  together  with  over-exertion  in  his  efforts  to 
secure  the  completion  of  the  house  at  a  given  time. 
He  wrought,  as  many  another  missionary  has  done, 
with  his  own  hands.  He  died  at  Brighton,  May  30, 
1858. 


IN    MEMORIAM  187 

Later  down,  a  father  in  the  ministry  was  taken.  Al- 
fred Wright  died  at  Durango,  Nov.  8,  1865.  Few 
who  ever  knew  him  will  soon  forget  the  inward  grace 
that  shone  out  on  his  cheerful  face.  So,  also,  we  think 
of  French,  Waters,  Mather,  Brown,  Leonard,  and 
others. 

Meanwhile,  sisters  were  also  passing  away.  There 
was  one  under  whose  roof,  in  the  earlier  years,  we 
used  always  to  find  a  hearty  welcome,  and  whose  calm 
trust  and  cheerful  endurance  preached  us  many  a  ser- 
mon ;  who,  after  years  of  suffering,  died  in  the  trium- 
phant hope  of  joys  to  come.  This  was  Mrs.  Emer- 
son.    She  closed  her  life  at  Sabula,  January,  1856. 

A  few  months  earlier,  one  who  had  recently  come 
among  us,  and  was  just  entering  joyously  into  our 
Iowa  work,  was  called  to  the  higher  service  of  heaven. 
Mrs.  Sarah  W.  Guernsey  died  at  Dubuque,  May  10, 
1855.  Her  remains  rest  in  the  old  burial-ground  at 
Xew  Haven,  Conn.  Pleasant  memories  of  her  and 
her  Christian  activities  will  long  linger  with  those  who 
then  composed  her  husband's  flock. 

Another  was  Mrs.  Abbey  A.  Magoun,  a  sister  of 
Mrs.  Hill.  Of  gentle  nature,  she  was  firm  in  the  serv- 
ice of  Christ.  As  a  Christian  woman,  a  mother,  and 
a  pastor's  wife,  she  adorned  her  calling  and  station. 
She,  too,  sleeps  on  the  banks  of  our  beautiful  river. 
Her  death  was  at  Lyons,  Feb.  10,  1864. 

We  must  speak  of  another,  who,  a  little  later,  died 
at  Durant,  Dec.  7,  1866.— Mrs.  Mary  F.  Bullen.     We 


188  THE    IOWA     BAND 

could  not,  if  we  would,  efface  from  our  minds  the 
sweetness  of  the  expression  she  wore.  Not  even  by 
death's  cold  touch  shall  it  be  marred.  We  well  re- 
member it,  as  turned  to  a  heavenly  smile. 

There  are  memories,  too,  of  dear  brethren  of  the 
churches  —  of  the  hospitable  Edwards;  the  venerable 
Cotton,  a  lineal  descendant  of  old  John  Cotton  of  Bos- 
ton ;  of  Father  Vincent,  who,  at  one  of  our  meetings, 
said  the  brethren  were  all  daguerreotyped  on  his 
mind ;  of  brethren,  too,  at  the  East,  who  in  heart  have 
been  with  us  and  of  us,  such  as  Mackintire,  Carter,  and 
others.  How  many  come  to  mind,  who  to-day  are 
with  the  multitude  around  the  throne  ;  who  rest  from 
their  labors,  and  their  works  do  follow  them  ! 

In  the  summer  of  1863,  during  the  Associational 
Meeting  at  Burlington,  a  few  of  the  brethren,  with 
their  wives,  went  out  to  the  grave  of  their  Brother 
Hutchinson.  Gathering  around  it,  with  uncovered 
heads,  they  bowed  in  prayer  to  God  that  the  mantle 
of  all  that  was  excellent  in  him  might  fall  upon  them. 

As  we  linger  thus  among  the  memories  of  the  de- 
parted, may  all  that  was  noble  in  their  lives  and  ex- 
cellent in  their  characters  be  with  us  that  remain,  to 
stimulate  and  to  cheer,  till  our  race,  too,  shall  be  run, 
and  we  shall  be  reckoned  with  them  ! 

Since  the  foregoing  was  written,  and  while  this 
work  is  going  through  the  press,  another  name  is  to 
be  added  to  those  of  the  Band  who  have  gone.     Eras- 


IX    MEMORIAM  189 

tus  Ripley  died  Feb.  21,  1870,  in  Somers,  Connecticut, 
age  fifty-five.  He  was  born  in  Coventry,  Connecticut, 
March  15,  A.D.  1815;  was  a  graduate  of  Union  Col- 
lege; also  of  Andover  Seminary,  in  the  class  of  1843. 
Elected  as  resident  licentiate,  he  remained  at  Andover 
till  the  spring  of  1844,  when  he  joined  his  classmates 
in  Iowa,  taking  charge  of  the  church  in  Bentonsport. 
He  remained  at  this  place  till  the  summer  of  1848, 
when  he  was  chosen  the  first  professor  of  Iowa  Col- 
lege at  Davenport.  From  this  time  he  was  identified 
with  the  interests  of  the  college ;  at  first  the  only, 
afterwards  associate,  teacher,  as  Carter  Professor  of 
Ancient  Languages,  until  the  time  of  its  removal  to 
Grinnell  in  1859.  Shortly  after  this  he  returned  to  his 
native  state,  where,  until  his  death,  he  was  engaged 
in  the  profession  of  teaching,  in  which  he  took  a  high 
rank.  Mr.  Ripley's  leading  powers  were  those  of  a 
linguist.  He  was  a  good  preacher,  an  enthusiastic 
teacher,  and  sought  to  lay  all  on  the  altar  for  Christ. 
His  work  is  done,  and  he,  too,  has  passed  away. 


CHAPTER    XX 

IN  MEMORIAM,  CONTINUED  FROM    1870  TO  1902 

IN  the  early  years  of  Iowa  the  workers  were  few  and 
comparatively  young.  A  grey  head  in  any  congre- 
gation was  a  rare  sight.  Deaths  were  comparatively 
few,  but,  as  workers  increased  with  increasing  years, 
they  became  more  frequent,  till  now,  in  the  thirty-one 
years  past,  the  list  is  a  long  one.  Of  these  mention 
can  be  made  of  but  few.  Naturally,  it  will  be  of  the 
old  pioneers  before  the  Band.  Of  these  there  were 
seven:  Turner,  Reed,  Gaylord,  Burnham,  Hitchcock, 
Emerson  and  Holbrook.  They  have  all  passed  away. 
The  first  called  was  Rev.  Reuben  Gaylord,  who  died 
January  10,  1880,  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight,  at  Fon- 
tanelle,  Nebraska ;  a  man  who,  from  his  youth,  always 
had  visions,  and  was  never  disobedient  to  them,  of  a 
glorious  work  to  be  done  by  planting  Christian 
churches  and  Christian  institutions  in  the  opening 
West.  He  was  the  second  of  our  pastors,  and  over 
the  second  of  our  churches  formed,  that  at  Danville, 
now  Hartford.  For  seventeen  years  he  labored  with 
us,  then,  listening  to>  a  Macedonian  cry  from  Ne- 
braska, he  went  to  Omaha.  In  a  faithful  pastorate 
there   and  wise   labors  as   Home    Missionary  Super- 

IQO 


-,> 


.-V     ■.  >... 


/\     MEMORlAM,    CONTINUED  191 

intendent,  he  built  himself  into  the  rising  founda- 
tions of  that  now  state.  He  sleeps  on  the  banks  of 
the  Missouri.  Four  years  later,  on  November  10, 
1883,  Rev.  Oliver  Emerson  was  called.  He  was  born 
in  Lynnfield,  Massachusetts,  March  26,  1813,  making 
him  at  death  seventy  years  of  age.  Of  a  weak  body, 
one-half  of  which  was  paralyzed  at  birth,  one  foot  de- 
formed, never  taking  a  step  without  pain,  never  seeing 
a  well  day,  with  little  prospect  that  the  days  of  man 
hood  would  ever  be  reached,  at  the  age  of  fifteen  lie 
was  a  student  at  Phillips  Academy.  Andover,  Mas- 
sachusetts. In  1835  he  graduated  at  Waterville, 
Maine.  Then  came  two  years  of  sickness.  For  a  sec- 
ond time  he  had  sought  his  home,  probably  to  die, 
with  great  sorrow  that  he  might  never  be  able  to 
preach.  For  three  days  he  fasted  and  prayed  that 
God  would  in  some  way  show  if  it  could  be.  His 
convictions  were  such  that  he  soon  started  for  Lane 
Seminary,  where  he  graduated  June  10,  1840.  On  the 
same  day,  unable  to  pay  cabin  fare,  he  took  deck  pas- 
sage on  a  steamer  for  Davenport,  Iowa,  where  in  ten 
days  he  landed,  an  entire  stranger,  with  a  scanty  ward- 
robe and  depleted  purse.  He  came  as  a  Baptist,  hold- 
ing open  communion  views,  but  hoping  to  preach  in 
that  connection.  He  was  disappointed  in  this,  yet  he 
began  at  once  to  preach.  So  fervent  was  he  in  spirit, 
his  sermons  so  clear,  logical  and  impassioned,  that 
he  was  welcomed  everywhere.  With  a  hearty  welcome, 
also,    he    was    received    into  our  Association,  as  one 


192  THE    IOWA    BA\n 

whose  great  business  it  was  to  preach  Christ  and  him 
crucified,  and  not  to  be  a  disturber  on  minor  points. 
He  labored  in  this  connection  most  happily.  For 
forty  years  was  he  "a  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness," 
seeking  out  the  new  settlements,  a  genuine  frontiers- 
man. He  had  his  appointments  always  on  the  Sab- 
bath, often  on  weekday  evenings,  gathering  the  peo- 
ple, now  in  schoolhouses,  and  now  in  their  own  dwell- 
ings. As  circumstances  demanded,  he  gave  attention 
to  the  erection  of  houses  of  worship  and  the  forming 
of  churches.  Twenty  or  twenty-five  of  these  remain  as 
the  fruits  of  his  labor.  His  voice  was  hushed,  but  his 
memory  remains.  Go  to  any  old  person  who  knew 
him  in  his  prime,  tell  him  you  knew  Father  Emerson, 
and  his  eye  will  kindle. 

It  is  now  but  a  step  from  '84  to  '85  which  brings  us 
to  the  death  of  Rev.  Asa  Turner.  We  called  him 
Father  Turner,  because  he  was  as  a  father  to  us  all, 
and  the  father,  too,  of  Congregationalism  in  Iowa. 
It  was  a  lecture  of  his,  in  a  hill  town  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, more  than  half  a  century  since,  on  "The  Advan- 
tages of  Western  Farming,"  that  led  to  the  early  col- 
onizing of  Denmark,  Lee  County.  When  in  1838  our 
church  was  organized  there,  he  was  invited  to  be- 
come its  pastor,  and  accepted.  There  he  continued 
for  nearly  forty  years,  a  common-sense  evangelistic 
preacher.  As  pastor,  he  was  a  true  shepherd  of  his 
flock,  while  he  was  also  helpful  everywhere  and  inter- 
ested everywhere  in  whatever  pertained  to  the  mat- 


/\     MEMORIAM,    CONTINUED  193 

ters  of  the  Kingdom,  in  the  new  territory.  lie  was 
everywhere  welcome  for  his  genial  spirit  in  the  homes 
of  the  people,  among-  brother  ministers,  in  associations 
and  public  meetings,  bearing  with  him  an  atmosphere 
of  influence  among  all.  But  the  time  came  for  his 
labors  to  be  laid  aside.  There  were  a  few  years  of 
rest,  first  with  a  daughter  in  California,  afterwards 
with  another  daughter  in  Oskaloosa,  where,  in  the 
confinement  of  his  sick  chamber,  he  waited  in  confi- 
dence in  his  divine  Redeemer  for  the  summons  to  go 
up  higher.  They  came  June  11,  1886,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-six  years  and  six  months.  So  he  was  laid  to 
rest  as  a  shock  of  corn  fully  ripe. 

The  next  to  depart  was  Rev.  Julius  A.  Reed.  He 
was  the  third  to  come,  and  took  charge  of  the  third 
church,  the  one  organized  at  Fairfield.  In  a  few  years, 
when  an  agent  of  the  Missionary  Society  was  de- 
manded, he  was  the  man  chosen,  and  well  chosen. 
Of  pleasing  address,  a  good  scholar,  accurate  and  log- 
ical in  thought,  clear  and  concise  in  expression,  he 
interested-  the  people  in  and  out  of  the  pulpit.  Faith- 
fully he  explored  the  field,  now  on  horseback,  more 
generally  in  his  buggy,  high  and  lifted  up,  made  ex- 
pressly for  fording  rivers  before  the  bridges  were 
built.  His  good  judgment  as  to  strategic  points,  and 
good  business  habits  in  the  forming  of  churches  where 
the  aid  of  councils  and  Christian  helpers  could  not  be 
had,  were  of  great  value  in  the  early  days.  In  the 
early  planting  and  growth  of  the  college,  too,  he  was 


*94 


THE    IOWA    BAND 


one  of  the  foremost  actors.  So  he  did  his  part  well. 
But)  there  was  one  thing,  for  which  he  was  peculiarly 
fitted,  that  he  did  not  do.  He  had  an  observant  eye 
and  a  retentive  memory.  No  one  could  have  written 
a  more  truthful  account  of  the  early  years  than  he 
But  he  failed  to  do  it.  There  was  considerable  ma- 
terial for  this  which  he  had  collected,  valuable  papers 
and  statistics,  carefully  prepared.  But  for  him  the 
end  came.  It  was  at  Davenport,  at  the  home  of  a 
.daughter,  Mrs.  S.  F.  Smith,  that  he  died. 

As  we  bore  him  away  to  his  resting-place,  it  was 
gladness  to  think  of  a  life  well  spent,  sorrowful  that 
we  should  see  his  face  no»  more,  and  sad  to  think  that 
with  him  we  committed  so  much  history  to  the  grave. 
He  was  born  January  16,  1809,  and  died  Aug.  27, 
1890,  aged  eighty-one. 

The  next  called  were  Brothers  Burnham  and  Hitch- 
cock. Mr.  Burnham,  though  here  at  the  coming  of 
the  Band,  soon  returned  to  his  native  state,  New 
Hampshire.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth,  and 
a  conscientious  Christian  man,  and  died  at  Townsend, 
Vermont,  in  1883. 

Mr.  Hitchcock,  too,  soon  after  the  coming  of  the 
Band,  exchanged  his  field  of  labor  at  Davenport  for 
one  across  the  river  at  Moline,  Illinois.  The  church 
there,  with  some  others  along  the  eastern  bank  of  the 
Mississippi,  being  for  some  years  attached  to  our  As- 
sociation in  Iowa,  he  continued  for  a  while  a  coworker 
with  us,  doing  valiant  work,  especially  in  the  causes 


IX    MEMORIAM,    CONTINUED  195 

of  anti-slavery  and  temperance.  But  ere  long  he  be- 
came fully  identified  with  the  growing  interests  of 
the  Kingdom  in  western  Illinois.  He  labored  on  to 
his  end.  His  sleeping-place  is  on  the  western  bank 
of  the  great  river,  he  having  died  at  Moline,  Decem- 
ber 15,  1873,  fifty-eight  years  old. 

To  this  list  one  more  name  is  to  be  added,  that  of 
Rev.  John  C.  Holbrook,  the  last  of  the  seven  to  go. 
His  life  was  an  eventful  one.  Inheriting  in  Brattle- 
boro.  Vermont,  his  native  place,  an  extensive  busi- 
ness, it  did  not  succeed.  Coming  west,  it  was  first 
farming,  then  teaching,  but  disappointment  in  both. 
Being  sent  by  Rev.  Stephen  Peet,  Home  Missionary 
Agent  in  Wisconsin,  to  spend  a  Sabbath  with  the  then 
little  church  at  Dubuque,  the  brethren  were  at  once  in- 
terested in  him,  and  engaged  him  to  be  their  preacher. 
Application  for  licensure  soon  followed  and  was 
granted.  At  once  it  was  evident  that  he  had  found 
his  calling.  With  earnestness,  zeal  and  power  he  be- 
gan and  for  years  continued  as  a  revival  preacher. 
Under  his  preaching  revival  succeeded  revival,  not 
only  in  his  own  church  but  in  settlements  around. 
His  church  grew  and,  partaking  somewhat  of  his 
spirit,  became  a  tower  of  strength  among  the  churches 
of  northern  Iowa.  Ere  long  he  was  called  to  other 
fields  and  to  work  too  well  known  to  be  here  re- 
hearsed. He  loved  Iowa  and  Iowa  loved  him.  His 
closing  years  were  on  the  western  coast.  In  his  ripe 
old  age  his  last  days  were  in  the  home  of  a  daughter 


1 96  THE    IOWA     BAND 

in  Stockton,  California,  where  in  his  ninety-fifth  year 
he  died,  Aug.  1,  1900. 

So  in  passing  do  we  pay  a  tribute  to  the  older,  the 
true  pioneers  here.  It  is  for  the  writer  a  pleasure  so 
to  do.  The  coming  of  the  Band  at  the  time  was  a 
movement  that  naturally  caught  the  attention  of  the 
public  and  many  things  have  been  ascribed  to  them 
rightfully  belonging  as  much  to  those  into  whose 
labors  they  entered,  and  whose  spirit  was  ever  with 
them.  If  these  words  shall  help  to  give  them  their 
true  place  in  the  history  of  our  churches,  it  is  but  a 
duty  done  that  gives  pleasure. 

And  now  we  turn  again  to  the  Band.  From  1843 
to  1870,  the  period  covered  by  the  memorial  chapter 
of  the  first  edition,  but  three  were  taken,  Hutchinson, 
Spaulding  and  Ripley.  In  the  period  from  1870  to 
1901,  all  but  two  have  passed  the  river.  The  first  to 
be  recorded  is  that  of  Rev.  James  J.  Hill.  He  was  a 
native  of  Maine  and  a  graduate  of  Bowdoin.  On 
account  of  the  sickness  and  death  of  his  father,  he 
could  not  come  with  his  brethren  in  T843,  Dut  ne  f°l~ 
lowed  the  next  spring,  locating  at  Jacksonville,  now 
Garnavillo,  Clayton  County.  This,  at  the  time,  was 
the  extreme  northern  limit  of  settlement,  in  a  region 
where  it  used  to  be  said  that  the  staple  provisions 
\\ere  corn  dodgers,  bear's  meat  and  wild  honey. 
There  he  built  a  house.  There  he  led  the  people  in 
the  building'  of  a  church.  There  were  born  to  him 
and  his  young  wife,  also  from  Maine,  his  two  sons, 


IN    MEMORIAM,    CONTINUED  197 

known  as  the  Hill  boys.  Gershom  and  James.  He 
labored  in  many  places  as  an  evangelist*  organizing 
churches,  and  also  at  such  points  as  Savannah,  Illi- 
nois, Glencoe,  Minnesota,  and  Fayette,  Iowa,  where 
in  one  or  two  cases  memorial  windows  have  been  sup- 
plied in  grateful  recollection  of  his  ministry. 

These  labors  were  mostly  in  central  and  northern 
Iowa,  but  sometimes  in  adjacent  counties  in  Illinois 
and  in  southern  Minnesota.4'1  His  last  labors  were  in 
Fayette,  Iowa,  where,  after  an  illness  of  a  year,  he 
died  Oct.  29,  1870,  at  the  age  of  fifty-five,  leaving  a 
second  wife  and  family.  His  two  sons,  already  re- 
ferred to,  laid  him  away  at  Grinnell.  The  remains  of 
their  mother,  the  wife  of  his  youth,  they  also  removed 
from  the  bank  of  the  Mississippi  to  rest  by  his  side. 

The  next  name  to  be  dropped  from  the  roll  of  the 
living  was  Rev.  Daniel  Lane.  Like  Mr.  Hill,  he  was 
a  native  of  Maine  and  a  graduate  of  Bowdoin.  He 
was  the  man  who  first  said,  "Well,  I  am  going  to 
Iowa  ;  whether  anybody  else  goes  or  not,  I  am  going." 
.  So  he  alwavs  decided  like  questions,  independently  for 
himself,  with  his  God.  His  decisions  made,  he  was 
always  careful  as  to  what  he  said  and  did.     "There," 

i:'  Twenty-five  yenrs  afVr  his  death,  one  of  his  sons  being  present  it  t'  e 
Sunday  Morning  Service.  November  24.  iS»;.  in  tlr>  Congregational  Church 
in  Toledo.  Iowa— observed  in  the  choir  on  -  of  the  members  of  the  leading  firm 
of  lawyers  in  Tama  Co  .  who  said  to  the  visitor.  "Your  father  labored  in  a  re- 
vival here.  By  him  I  was  led  to  th°  Saviour.  Except  for  his  faithful  work  here 
I  probably  should  not  have  been  in  th;  t  choir  this  morning." 

•""•  He  was  called  upon  to  officiateat  t1  e  first  service  of  Plymouth  Church, 
St.  Paul,  in  Ccjnqe/t  Hall  on  Third  Street.  May  16.  1858. 


198  THE    IOWA     BAND 

said  one  in  a  company  of  brother  ministers,  "there  is 
the  only  perfect  man  I  ever  knew."  As  a  God-fearing 
man  there  was  in  his  very  presence  a  rebuke  of  sin. 
"I  always  feel  like  hiding-,"  said  a  frequenter  of 
saloons,  "when  I  see  Mr.  Lane  coming  along  the 
street."  His  first  and  main  pastoral  work  was  at 
Keosauqua  for  some  years,  till  at  the  solicitation  of 
his  brethren  he  left  that  field  to  become  a  teacher  in 
the  college  in  which  and  for  which  he  did  noble  work. 
There  was  something  in  him  or  about  him  that  won 
the  esteem  of  all  with  whom  he  had  to  do,  whether  as 
pastor  or  teacher.  When  in  after  years  the  church  at 
Keosauqua  built  a  new  house  of  worship,  a  memorial 
window  was  evidence  of  the  abiding  esteem  for  the 
first  pastor.  Where  you  find  an  old  pupil  of  his  there 
you  will  hear  a  tribute  of  praise  to  his  memory.  Being 
dead  he  yet  speaketh.  His  influence  among  his  breth- 
ren at  Associations  and  among  the  churches  can  easily 
be  imagined.  Afflicted  with  increasing  deafness,  he 
gave  up  both  teaching  and  preaching  some  years  be- 
fore his  death,  the  last  of  which  were  spent  near  his 
Eastern  home.  Almost  up  to  the  time  of  his  death 
he  had  a  class  in  the  Sabbath-school  and  conducted  a 
weekly  prayer-meeting  of  neighbors  at  his  home, 
which  was  some  distance  from  the  village  church.  So 
at  last  the  end  came.  It  was  at  Freeport,  Maine,  the 
third  of  April,  1890,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven.  But 
a  few  weeks  since,  April  18,  1900,  his  devoted  wife 
was  laid  by   his   side.      Having  loved   Iowa   in   their 


IN    MEMORIAM,    CONTINUED 


199 


youth,  their  chosen  field  of  labor,  they  loved  her  to 
the  end. 

Hut  four  months  after,  he  was  followed  by  Brother 
E.  B.  Turner.  Of  an  adventurous  spirit,  with  a  love 
of  the  West,  after  three  years  of  student  life  at  Jack- 
sonville, Illinois,  and  having  a  purpose  already  formed 
to  go  west  somewhere,  he  readily  came  into  the  plans 
of  the  Band,  to  whom  his  own  experiences  were  at 
once  of  great  value.  He  began  labor  here  in  Jones 
and  adjacent  counties.  These  contained  the  most 
northern  settlements  in  the  territory  and  the  farthest 
to  the  northwest  of  the  United  States.  In  the  years 
spent  there  he  shared  the  hardships  and  exposures  of 
the  earlier  settlers ;  they  dreamed  not  of  the  con- 
veniences of  modern  times.  Here  was  the  sum  of 
his  Iowa  labors.  After  a  faithful  and  successful  pas- 
torate at  Morris,  Illinois,  he  was  called  at  the  close  of 
the  rebellion  to  be  Superintendent  of  Home  Missions 
in  Missouri.  There  were  twelve  years  of  arduous  toil 
in  this  capacity,  then  followed  a  few  more  of  mis- 
sionary labors  in  New  York  state,  and  then  came  the 
evening  of  life,  in  Owego,  where  he  died,  the  6th  of 
July.  1805,  at  the  age  of  eighty-three.  By  his  side 
was  laid  his  wife,  October  26,  t8q6. 

From  1890  to  1896  there  is  no  more  break.  Tn  the 
latter  year  two  were  taken.  First  came  the  depart- 
ure of  Harvey  Adams.  He  was  the  oldest  of  the 
Band.  His  first  field  was  Farmington,  near  the  Abner 
Kneclond    colony,    once    noted,    but    now    scarcelv 


200  THE    IOWA     BAND 

known.  He  was  the  only  one  who  in  a  busy  pastorate 
and  in  labors  peculiar  to  early  Western  life  kept  up  a 
critical  study  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  original  lan- 
guages. He  was  also  a  great  reader  of  the  Bible  in 
the  English.  He  read  it  in  course,  how  many  times 
through  is  not  known.  After  the  close  of  his  active 
labors,  it  was  once  fifteen  times  in  one  year ;  in  an- 
other, fourteen.  His  last  pastorate  was  at  New 
Hampton,  where  also  he  was  pastor  emeritus.  Al- 
ways, while  strength  was  given  him,  he  was  a  con- 
stant attendant  at  church,  always  having  a  seat  in  the 
pulpit  and  generally  making  a  prayer  in  the  course  of 
the  exercises.  So  he  went  on  to  the  end  which  came 
September  23,  1896,  when  he  was  eighty-seven  years 
old. 

Three  months  after  this  came  the  death  of  Brother 
Robbins,  December  27,  1896,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
nine  years,  ten  months  and  five  days.  Then  the  places 
that  knew  him  were  to  know  him  no  more.  His  place 
in  a  church  and  in  a  city  where  for  half  a  century  he 
had  gone  in  and  out  as  a  preacher  of  righteousness, 
where  by  his  long  ministrations  and  intimate  connec- 
tions with  the  life  of  the  people  he  had  come  to  be 
almost  a  pastor  of  all,  that  place  by  his  death  was  now 
vacant.  That  place  also  was  made  vacant  in  the 
board  of  college  trustees,  where  he  was  last  of  its 
first  corporate  members  to  be  taken  save  one.  In  like 
manner,  also,  in  our  seminary  at  Chicago,  as  well  as 
the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 


IN    MEM0R1AM,    CONTINUED  201 

Missions,  was  there  a  vacancy  never  to  be  really  rilled. 
There  were,  moreover,  other  positions,  other  works 
of  a  public  character,  but  the  grave  had  taken  him 
from  them  all. 

On  the  list  we  are  now  considering  but  one  name 
remains,  that  of  Ebenezer  Alden.  He  came  in  1843 
and  for  five  years  was  at  Tipton,  Cedar  County,  the 
"one  in  whom  all  the  people  believed."  Domestic  re- 
lations were  the  cause  of  his  return  to  the  East,  where 
he  soon  found  a  pastorate  at  Marshfield,  Massachu- 
setts, which  he  filled  through  his  active  Christian  life. 
He  died  suddenly,  January  4,  1889,  aged  eighty,  hav- 
ing loved  and  loving  Iowa  to  the  end  and  his  Iowa 
brethren  loving  him. 

And  now,  what  of  those  fellow  workers  who  in  these 
later  years  have  been  dropping  from  the  ranks? 
Here,  as  we  turn  our  thoughts  backward,  they  pass 
before  us  a  long  procession,  among  them  those  as 
under-shepherds  faithfully  feeding  their  flocks,  till, 
under  the  weight  of  years,  they  took  the  name  of 
Father — as,  Father  Tenney.  Hurlburt,  Taylor,  Todd, 
Windsor.  Here  are  the  names  of  Coleman  and  Up- 
ton, whose  end  came  on  the  Pacific  shore ;  of  Tittle, 
once  a  foreign,  afterwards  a  home  missionary ;  of 
( ribbs,  Avery,  Allen  ;  of  Bingham,  also,  not  so  fatherly 
as  some  because  in  old  age  so  young.  Then  there  were 
others,  not  so  far  along  in  life  as  to  take  the  name  of 
Father,  but  "called"  in  their  strength,  before  the  de- 
clining vears  had  come ;  as  Guernsev,  Thatcher,  Hoyt, 


202  THE    IOWA     BAND 

Woodworth,  Brintnall,  and  Bennett  the  teacher  and 
preacher  whose  last  labors  were  in  Nebraska ;  and 
some  cnt  down  in  the  prime  of  life ;  as  Dwight, 
Pickett,  Sloan,  Berry  and  Byres  ;  and,  younger  still, 
June  and  Magoun.  And  names  of  devoted  men, 
pillars  in  their  church,  how  they  multiply!  Fox, 
Brown,  Shedd,  Epps,  pioneer  settlers  of  Denmark  ; 
Beardsley  and  Hedge,  of  Burlington ;  Rogers  and 
Wright,  the  ever  faithful  in  Mitchell  association  ;  Gas- 
ton, also,  whose  soul  and  money  went  into  the  found- 
ing of  Tabor  College,  and  —  but  who  can  give  the 
names  of  the  good,  strong  men  of  our  churches  who 
have  passed  away  ?  And  there  are  godly  women,  too, 
on  whose  counsels  and  prayers  the  life  of  churches 
hung,  women  of  missionary  zeal,  whose  spirits  yet 
live  —  Edwards,  Lassie,  Riggs,  Magoun,  Parker, 
Daniels,  Estes,  Hillis.  But  here,  again,  who  but  the 
recording  angel  can  tell  what  woman  hath  done  in 
quiet,  silent  ways,  never  published  to  the  world? 

Thus  are  recorded  a  few  names  that  come  to  mind. 
Many,  many  others  there  are  just  as  worthy  of  men- 
tion,  but  what  one  memory  can  contain  them  all? 

The  wonderful  developments  of  our  state  have  been, 
and  are  yet  to  be,  in  three  great  lines  :  the  physical, 
the  educational,  the  moral  and  religious.  Rich  and 
enriching  are  the  lives  in  harmony  with  and  helpful 
in  each.  They  are  the  lives  that  tend  toward  the  cul- 
mination of  all,  the  glory  of  God,  in  the  well-being  of 
man  in  a  worlel  ever  growing  more  and  more  beauti- 


IN    MEMORIAM,    CONTINUED  203 

ful,  preparatory  all,  as  designed  by  Him,  for  the  glo- 
ries of  the  next. 

They  who  have  gone  before  us,  whose  lives  in  part 
have  been  with  ours,  are  sleeping  now;  some,  the 
most  of  them,  in  their  Iowa  graves;  some  scattered 
elsewhere.  But  blessed  are  the  dead  that  die  in  the 
Lord.  They  rest  from  their  labors,  and  their  works 
follow  them. 


"One  by  one 

Their  work  well  done 

They  disappear ; 

Each  veteran  pioneer. 
Responding  to  the  mandate  of  his  Lord. 
Ascends  to  meet  a  rich  reward, 
Translated  to  a  brighter  realm,  a  higher  sphere." 


CHAPTER    XXI 

OUTLOOK    AND    CONCLUSION 

THUS  have  we  cast  our  thoughts  backward.  For 
a  moment  we  have  held  this  fair  land  in  view, 
as,  but  a  few  years  ago,  its  forests,  its  prairies,  its 
rivers,  were  vast  solitudes  of  Nature's  richness  and 
beauty,  which  for  centuries  had  waited  the  magic 
touch  of  civilized  life.  Here,  with  the  thronging  thou- 
sands, have  the  lives  of  those  of  us  that  have  been  in 
Iowa  for  the  last  three,  five,  ten,  twenty,  or  thirty 
years,  entered  in. 

By  these  reminiscences,  in  the  changes  wrought, 
have  we  been  led  to  think  of  our  individual  work  and 
associated  labors.  We  have  thought,  too, — and  per- 
haps, in  passing,  have  shed  the  tear  of  affection  as 
we  have  thought  —  of  those  who  entered  with  us,  and 
have  fallen  by  the  way.  In  the  midst  of  the  serious 
and  the  sad,  there  has  been  much  to  encourage  and 
rejoice.  We  have  not  labored  in  vain ;  but  the  end  is 
not  yet.  To  the  most  of  us  that  have  been  here  even 
the  longest,  life,  with  somewhat  of  health  and  vigor, 
is  still  spared ;  and  work  yet  remains. 

We  take  not  our  review  as  in  evening's  shade,  with 
the  armor  off,  awaiting    repose  ;  but  as  at  noontide 

204 


OUTLOOK    AND    CONCLUSION  205 

heat,  with  the  outlook  of  demands,  opportunities  and 
labors  before  us  of  the  declining  day.  And  what  see 
we  here?  A  mighty  state,  which  as  vet  even  is  but 
in  the  dawn  of  its  development.  (  )f  her  area  of  fifty- 
five  thousand  square  miles,  there  are  two-thirds,  or 
twenty-five  millions  of  its  rich  acres  that  as  yet  bear 
upon  them  the  native  prairie  sod.  Already  the  fourth 
state  in  the  Union  in  the  production  of  some  of  the 
cereals,  what  is  it  yet  to<  be?  It  is  only  here  and  there 
that  her  watercourses,  abundant  in  their  privileges, 
have  been  made  to  turn  the  busy  wheels  of  art ;  while 
her  extensive  fields  of  minerals  and  coal  have  but  just 
begun  to  be  worked.  Her  system  of  railroads  —  with 
near  two  thousand  miles  already  in  operation,  with  the 
converging  lines  meeting  on  its  western  border,  there 
to  unite  with  the  great  Pacific — is  yet  to  be  completed. 
Then  will  she  lie,  as  favored  of  God,  on  the  great  high- 
way of  the  nations,  and  as  central  therein.  Then  by 
her  roads  and  rivers  she  will  send  out  from  and  draw 
to  herself,  as  she  lists,  from  the  North  and  the  South, 
the  East  and  the  West. 

It  only  remains  for  a  growing  population  to  carry 
out  and  develop  all  these  resources  garnered  in  her 
bosom.  A  guarantee  for  this  we  have  in  the  record  of 
the  past.  Tn  1836,  the  population  was  ten  thousand; 
in  1846,  ninety-seven  thousand ;  in  1856,  five  hundred 
and  nineteen  thousand.  Now,  in  1870,  it  is  estimated 
at  one  million  and  a  quarter.  How  it  will  stand  when 
he   who   reviews   the   next   quarter-century   shall   an- 


206  THE    101VA    BAND 

nounce  the  figures,  a  conjecture  will  not  be  hazarded. 
Nor  as  to  the  scenes  of  development  and  progress 
which  it  will  be  his  privilege  to  unfold,  will  any 
prophecy  be  made.  Only  this :  if  by  the  appliances  of 
education,  virtue,  piety,  religion,  the  tone  and  vigor 
of  the  people  can  be  kept  up  and  improved;  if  her 
schools,  colleges,  institutions  and  churches  can  be 
made  to  act  well  their  part  —  the  results  in  this  state 
for  the  country,  the  world  and  for  God  will  be  glori- 
ous. Here,  then,  with  all  others  of  the  good  and  the 
true,  is  our  work  and  our  labor.  If,  to  any,  the  sun 
of  his  day  seems  to  be  hanging  low,  let  him  do  with 
his  might  what  his  hand  findeth  to  do.  Surely,  in 
Iowa  even,  the  mission  field  is  but  just  entered. 

But  let  us  extend  our  view.  West  of  us  there  is  al- 
ready a  region  containing  four  millions  of  people, 
where,  twenty-five  years  ago,  there  were  none.  Here 
is  opening  the  West  of  to-day.  Here  are  almost  two- 
thirds  of  our  national  domain,  all  organized  into  states 
or  territories,  rapidly  filling  up,  but  as  yet,  in  the 
main,  almost  destitute  of  the  institutions  of  the  gospel. 
In  Washington  Territory,  with  its  seventy  thousand 
square  miles ;  Idaho,  with  its  one  hundred  thousand ; 
Montana,  a  third  larger  still ;  Utah,  New  Mexico,  Ari- 
zona, Nevada,  none  of  them  smaller  than  the  others, 
some  larger, — in  all  these,  the  number  of  the  laborers 
of  our  order  can  to-day  be  counted  upon  one's  fingers, 
while  that  of  all  other  denominations  is  small.  This  is 
not  from  want  of  people,  but  because  the  laborers  are 


OUTLOOK    AND    CONCLUSION  207 

few.  The  tide  of  population  from  all  parts  of  the 
world  stays  not,  and  the  work  grows.  Here,  truly, 
our  home  mission  field  is  almost  boundless.  Nor  is 
this  all.  The  work  is  far  from  being  eomplete  in  the 
states  east  of  us,  as  well  as  in  our  own ;  wdiile  all  over 
the  South,  the  cry,  no  doubt,  will  yet  be  heard,  "Come 
and  help  us  also."'  The  spectacle  before  us  is  almost 
appalling- ;  it  is  really  so  if  we  gaze  long  enough  to  see 
in  the  character  of  our  people,  and  the  genius  of  our 
government,  the  necessity,  the  absolute  necessity,  of 
the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  to  fuse  us  as  one,  to  purify 
and  preserve.  Failing  to  supply  this,  our  nation  fails, 
as  becoming  effete  and  worthless  without  the  preserv- 
ing salt.  There  are  certain  notorious  facts  that  may 
well  alarm  us.  Xot  only  is  there  alarming  destitu- 
tion in  the  newer  portions  of  the  country,  but  there 
is  equally  alarming  indifference  in  the  older.  A  fourth 
part  of  our  thirty-seven  millions  of  people  are  habitual 
neglecters  of  public  worship.  Organized  efforts  are 
made  in  many  quarters  to  break  down  the  sanctity  of 
the  Sabbath.  Infidelity  is  rife.  The  press  is  in  a  great 
measure  corrupted  and  corrupting.  Profanitv,  intem- 
perance, corruption,  political  and  financial,  are  sadly 
prevalent.  These  influences  must  be  withstood,  if  out- 
country  is  to  be  safe.  The  only  efficient  counteracting 
influence  is  the  gospel.  The  work  of  giving  it  must 
ever  be  largely  a  home  mission  work.  Even  now, 
with  such  an  outlook  before  us,  we  seem  to  stand  only 
at  the  threshold  of  the  home  missionary  enterprise. 


208  THE    IOWA    BAND 

After  looking  at  the  past  in  what  now  seems  to  be 
this  little  field  of  Iowa,  with  this  glance  around  and 
before  us,  reflections  of  various  sorts  crowd  thick 
upon  us.  In  the  utterance  of  a  few  will  be  found  our 
conclusion. 

For  the  Executive  Committee  and  the  Secretaries  of 
the  Society  prosecuting  this  great  home  work: 

It  is  yours  to  stand  as  upon  the  watch-tower,  sur- 
veying the  wants  of  this  vast,  outspreading  field,  and 
to  make  report  of  the  same  to  the  people.  It  is  yours 
to  direct  the  money  and  the  men  volunteered  for  their 
supply,  and  to  report  of  progress  made.  You  stand 
as  at  the  very  center  of  the  whole.  Of  the  responsi- 
bilities of  your  position,  the  great  trust  reposed  in  you 
by  the  churches,  we  have  not  a  word  to  say.  These 
you  have  well  considered,  and  no  one  can  feel  them  as 
you  can.  Nor  is  it  an  exhortation  to  be  faithful  that 
we  presume  to  offer,  but  simply  an  All  hail !  in  your 
great  and  glorious  work ;  to  join  with  you  in  thanks 
to  God  for  his  blessing  upon  it  in  the  past,  with  a 
hearty  Godspeed  for  you  in  the  future.  May  enlarged 
wisdom  and  grace  be  given  you  for  the  enlarged  and 
growing  wants  of  the  field ! 

For  the  Donors: 

If  you  have  wasted  money  anywhere,  it  is  not  in  this 
work.  Here,  bread  cast  upon  the  waters  returns  again 
after  not  many  days.     Here  is  a  great  and  growing 


01  I  LOOK    AND    CONCLUSION 


209 


want,  which,  so  far  as  you  arc  concerned,  money  alone, 
with  prayer,  can  supply.  For  your  money,  then,  we 
appeal  in  the  name  of  all  that  is  near,  dear  and  pre- 
cious—  in  the  name  of  home,  country,  Christ  and 
souls.  Fill  up  the  treasury  at  New  York,  that,  for  the 
want  of  money,  this  great  work  stay  not.  In  money 
are  the  sinews  of  war.  We  found  it  so  in  the  great 
struggle  just  passed;  and  how  like  water  was  it  poured 
out !  How  selfish,  how  mean,  and  how  sordid  he  who 
would  hoard  it  then !  But  a  greater  conflict  is  now 
raging  between  the  good  and  the  evil,  all  over  the 
land.  It  is  the  old  warfare  of  the  two  kingdoms ;  and 
never,  in  any  country,  was  the  conflict  sharper  than  in 
ours  now.  Never  before  was  such  a  prize  to  be  lost 
and  won.  On  the  one  side  are  the  standards  of  the 
arch-enemy,  and  many  are  flocking  thereto ;  on  the 
other  is  the  banner  of  the  cross.  That  victory  may 
perch  upon  it,  the  great  thing  needed  is,  that  churches, 
mission  churches  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  be  planted 
everywhere,  out  upon  the  frontiers,  up  and  down  the 
land,  as  outposts,  forts  and  citadels  of  the  fight.  Will 
you  furnish  the  means? 

For  the  young  men: 

Men  are  needed  as  well  as  means.  You  in  colleges 
and  seminaries,  with  the  ministry  in  view,  and  von  in 
the  churches,  that  have  hearts  that  can  feel  and 
tongues  to  express  the  things  of  Jesus,  let  us  speak  to 
you,     A  few  young  men  there  are  out  in  these  West- 


2IO  THE    IOWA    BAND 

ern  fields,  who  never  saw  a  seminary  or  college,  who 
are  successfully  feeding  the  Lord's  flocks  in  the  wil- 
derness. Would  that  we  had  hundreds,  yea,  thou- 
sands, of  them  !  Christian  young  men  in  our  churches, 
are  you,  if  God  will,  just  as  ready  to  be  ministers  as 
you  are  to  be  engineers,  merchants  or  farmers?  You 
that  are  in  colleges  and  seminaries,  are  you  willing  to 
go  anywhere  to  preach  Jesus?  "Send  me,"  said  one 
at  the  home  missionary  rooms,  more  than  thirty  years 
ago, — "send  me  to  the  hardest  spot  you  have."4' 
They  sent  him ;  sent  him  where  it  was  indeed  desolate 
and  drear.  But  now,  if  all  is  not  as  the  garden  of  the 
Lord,  he  can  at  least  look  around  him  and  behold  the 
mighty  things  that  God  has  wrought.  Young  men, 
be  not  afraid  to  launch  out.  There  are  no1  waters 
without  the  steps  of  Jesus  upon  them ;  and  his  prom- 
ise, "Lo  I  am  with  you  alway,"  reaches  unto  the  ends 
of  the  earth. 

For  our  churches,  the  churches  of  our  beloved  Iowa: 
The  Lord  hath  blessed  you ;  but  how  much,  under 
God,  do  you  owe  to  the  Home  Missionary  Society ! 
Recognize  the  debt.  Look  around  you,  and  see  others 
in  want.  Feel  the  obligation  by  every  means  in  your 
power  to  attain  the  point  of  self-support  at  the  earliest 
possible  period,  and  then  join  in  with  your  helpers  to 
be  the  helpers  of  others.  The  time  is  coming,  yea, 
now  is,  when  the  churches  of  the  West,  in  the  matter 

47  Rev.  R.  Kent  who  was  sent  to  Galena.  111. 


OUTLOOK    AND    CONCLUSIOh  211 

of  the  great  benevolent  objects  of  the  day,  must  come 
up  to  the  help  of  the  Lord  as  they  have  never  yet  done. 
Let  not  those  of  Iowa  be  in  the  rear.  "Freely  ye  have 
received,  freely  give."  Not  of  your  money  only  ;  of 
your  prayers  and  labors  also,  — the  prayers  and  labors 
of  your  individual  members,  in  the  wise  work  of  win- 
ning souls  around  you,  that  each  church  may  indeed 
be  a  mission  church  for  the  field  within  its  reach.  By 
Sabbath-schools,  teachers  sent  here  and  there,  by 
neighborhood  prayer-meetings,  by  lay  preaching,  if 
you  choose  to  call  it  so,  upon  the  Sabbath,  by  every 
method  within  the  church  and  around  it,  work  for 
Jesus.  In  no  other  way  can  our  surrounding  wants 
be  reached.  We  cannot  call  for  ministers  to  do  all  the 
work.  They  are  not  to  be  had ;  and,  if  they  were,  it 
is  better  to  be  workers  ourselves.  We  cannot  call 
upon  the  Home  Missionary  Society  for  all  the  needed 
help.  It  would  be  asking  for  what  it  has  not  to  give ; 
and.  were  all  the  money  and  men  at  its  command  in- 
creased a  hundredfold,  there  are  central  and  promis- 
ing fields  in  waiting  for  them  all,  in  the  regions 
around  and  beyond.  With  a  limited  supply,  the  great 
work  of  the  Home  Missionary  Society  must  ever  be 
to  gather  up  and  establish  churches.  Let  but  these 
be  true  to  their  work,  let  them  be  mission  churches 
in  deed  as  well  as  in  name,  and  the  svstem  will  be 
more  complete.  Let  the  churches  of  Iowa  learn  the 
lesson,  and  fill  up  the  work  remaining  to  be  done. 
The  work  can  easily  be  accomplished, 


212  THE    IOWA     BAND 

For  the  ministry  of  Iowa: 

To  you  who  were  on  the  field  prior  to  1843,  we  cede 
the  honor  of  being  the  pioneers  in  this  blessed  work. 
By  you,  in  many  respects,  were  the  foundations  laid, 
the  key-note  of  the  true  principles  of  our  Christian 
work  and  church  growth  struck.  If.  after  your  years 
of  watching,  waiting,  almost  despairing,  you  recog- 
nize it  as  of  God  that  youthful  helpers  were  sent  to 
you,  they  also  recognize  it  as  of  him  that  you  were 
here,  to  be  in  many  respects  their  light  and  their 
guide;  and,  among  you,  none  more  than  he,  who, 
after  his  forty  years  of  service  in  the  gospel  ministry, 
has  just  laid  off  his  pastoral  harness.  May  the  Lord 
long  spare  him  to  be  to  us  what  hitherto  he  has  been ! 

Those  who  have  joined  us  since  1843  w^l  not  fee^ 
that  they  are  excluded  in  this  quarter-century  review ; 
for  they,  too,  have  been  sharers  in  the  work  accom- 
plished. Let  each  be  joyous  in  view  of  it,  according  to 
the  time  and  faithfulness  given  to  it.  May  you,  dear 
brethren,  as  faithful  workers  for  Christ,  be  true  lovers 
of  Iowa,  even  as  those  who  have  been  longest  here ! 

Finally,  The  Band: 

God  hath  been  gracious  to  us.  Three  only  has  he 
taken  by  death ;  three  have  been  called  to  other  fields 
of  labor;  five  yet  remain.  How  much  longer  we  are 
to  labor  here,  we  know  not.  This  we  know :  it  is  past 
the  noontide,  and  soon,  very  soon,  the  evening  shades 
will  come.  When  the  setting  sun  hangs  low,  God 
grant  that  we  may  look  back  on  a  day  well  spent  \ 


CHAPTER    XXII 
EVENTIDE 

THE  review  in  the  preceding  chapter  was  taken 
thirty-one  years  ago.  Then  was  the  noon  of 
life,  now  the  sun  is  near  its  setting;  an  hour  that  in- 
\  ites  not  only  to  rest  from  labor  but  to  moments  of  re- 
flection. When  Isaac  went  out  to  meditate,  it  was  at 
eventide.  The  author,  sitting  down  at  the  eventide 
of  his  life  to  pen  a  few  reflections  for  this  closing 
chapter,  would  meditate,  as  it  were,  aloud.  Here 
alone,  almost  wholly  alone  ;  the  old  workers  all  gone  ; 
of  the  Band  all  but  two.  Brother  Salter  yet  remains, 
the  pastor,  although  with  an  assistant,  of  his  Burling- 
ton church  which  a  few  years  since  celebrated  the 
fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  labors  among  them.  He 
was  the  youngest  of  the  Band  and  very  likely  will  be 
the  last.  Ere  long,  probably,  the  cane  will  be  his.4" 
How  sad  was  the  accident  on  that  bright  summer 
morning  that  took  from  him  his  beloved  wife!49  Of 
the  first  wives  of  the  other  members  of  the  Band, 
they,  also,  are  gone,  all  but  two.  The  wife  of  Brother 
Spaulding  still  lives  at  Ottumwa,  the  scene  of  their 

4'  Note  16. 
■"  Note  17. 

31.1 


214  THE    IQWA    BAND 

early  labors.  The  other  is  she  who  is  with  me  yet. 
Why  are  we  thus  spared,  together,  the  only  two  per- 
mitted to  see  a  golden  wedding  day?  Of  later  co- 
workers that  have  passed  away  as  the  years  have 
gone,  what  a  list !  As  their  names  are  recalled  and 
the  names,  too,  of  many  of  the  members  of  the  early 
churches,  there  starts  up  a  face,  attitudes  are  seen, 
tones  of  voice  are  heard,  but  they  are  no  longer  here. 
For  each  one  the  sun  has  set.  What  a  large  company 
from  Iowa  is  gathered  on  that  brighter  shore  !  To  be 
there  when  the  shades  of  night  have  settled  over  this 
eventide,  then  to  go  in  the  infinite  grace  of  the  heav- 
enly Father  to  join  them,  is  the  hope.  And  yet,  while 
the  eventide  remains,  "t  is  pleasant  to  think  of  the 
past.  First  of  all,  how  God's  hand  has  been  in  every- 
thing! As  to  the  Band,  its  organization,  its  choice 
of  a  field,  the  timeliness  of  entering  it,  its  prepared- 
ness to  be  entered,  these  were  not  from  any  human 
foresight  or  wisdom,  but  somehow  of  God.  And 
since  coming  in  the  inexperience  of  youth  to  begin 
here  the  work  of  the  ministry,  in  such  a  country  as 
this  then  was,  and  continuing  in  it  these  many  years, 
how  evident  now  that  God's  care  has  attended ! 
Twice  only  have  there  been  even  moments  of  any- 
thing like  homesickness  or  anxiety.  Once  in  the 
earlier  years,  in  cholera  times,  when  leaving  the  un- 
kept  burying  ground,  a  marshy,  weedy  place,  where 
we  had  buried  one  who  had  been  suddenly  stricken, 
the  thought.  Oh,  to  be  taken  sick  and  to  die,  perhaps, 


EVENTIDE  215 

and  buried  in  such  a  place  as  this,  far,  far  away  from 
home  and  kindred!  caused  a  shudder  for  a  moment; 
hut  nothing  of  the  kind  has  happened.  Youth  has 
been  spared  to  manhood  and  manhood  to  age,  even 
to  old  age  of  eighty  and  three.  No  chills  or  fever. 
In  my  preaching  days,  not  a  sick  one  of  any  kind; 
every  appointment  filled  except  a  half  dozen  or  so. 
Surely  God's  care  has  been  constant.  Twice  lonely. 
Once  in  those  early  years,  again,  later.  As  the  older 
brethren  and  those  of  the  Band  began  to  drop  off  and 
new  brethren  to  multiply,  there  came  one  day  the 
thought  of  becoming  old,  of  standing  almost  alone, 
of  being  among  newcomers,  unknown,  uncared  for, 
unnoticed,  set  aside.  This,  too,  for  a  moment  was 
like  a  gathering  cloud.  But  it  has  never  been.  Age, 
to  be  sure,  but  not  the  other  part  of  it.  A  great  joy 
has  it  been  and  one  of  life's  great  privileges  to 
meet  the  brethren,  especially  at  Association  time. 
Never  was  one  anticipated  with  greater  pleasure  than 
the  one  next  to  be  held.  So,  as  a  Band,  God  has  been 
good  to  us.  not  only  in  giving  a  goodly  field,  in  his 
individual  care,  but  in  blessing  us  in  our  labors. 
Looking  backward  upon  the  past,  there  is  but  one  un- 
pleasant thought  that  intrudes.  Tt  is  that  there  has 
been  such  dulness  to  see  and  slowness  to  improve  the 
opportunities  scattered  all  along  the  way.  And  yet, 
close  to  this  there  comes  another,  that  God  has  used 
even  imperfect  instruments  to  his  own  glory.  And 
this  is  joy  again.       Were  life  to  be  lived  over,  this 


216  THE    IOWA    BAND 

would  be  a  good  motto — Do  the  work  at  hand,  do  it 
well,  and  God  will  open  the  way.  For  he  hath  opened 
it  and  wrought,  most  wonderfully  wrought. 

Yes,  what  wonderful  changes,  how  great  the  prog- 
ress made !  Not  now  in  the  world  abroad,  but  in 
Iowa!  When  entered  in  1843,  it  was  a  wild,  Indian 
country,  save  two  narrow  strips ;  now  it  is  a  Christian 
state,  covered  over  with  happy  homes ;  its  once 
bridgeless  streams,  bridged ;  in  place  of  bridle  paths, 
roads  for  vehicles  of  business  and  pleasure ;  railroads, 
too,  lacing  and  interlacing  till  stations  are  placed 
within  a  few  miles  of  every  home.  Better  yet,  within 
every  two  miles  provision  is  made  for  a  schoolhouse. 
In  every  town  and  city,  among  the  noblest  buildings, 
are  schoolhouses  for  the  children.  13,861  school- 
houses  valued  at  $17,655,992;  28,789  teachers. 
These  are  pleasant  figures  to  look  at.  As  they  are 
considered,  there  comes  to  mind  a  picture  of  a 
schoolhouse,  visited  over  fifty  years  ago,  where  the 
teacher  was  weaving  cloth,  his  loom  festooned  with 
pumpkins  cut  in  strips  and  hung  up  to  dry.  A  con- 
trast, surely !  And  then  the  academies,  the  colleges, 
the  seminaries.  Our  own  Denmark  Academy  the  first 
of  all  in  territorial  days.  And  of  colleges,  our  Iowa 
College  the  first  in  the  state.  We  called  it  a  college 
then ;  it  was  in  fact  only  a  school  at  first,  and  a  small 
one  at  that  ;  but  we  called  it  a  college,  not  for  what 
it  was,  but  was  to  be.  It  is  pleasant  now  to  look  back 
and  see  how  it  has  grown.     Fresh  in  mind  as  if  yes- 


EVENTIDE  217 

terday  is  that  rainy  afternoon  when  its  first  little  build- 
ing at  Davenport  was  dedicated.  Not  more  than  a 
dozen  present.  A  prayer  and  a  brief  address.  To 
think  now  of  the  Grinnell  Campus,  with  its  buildings 
and  furnishings,  its  teachers,  students  and  graduates — 
this  is  pleasing.  It  is  a  long  term  of  service  given  to 
it,  that  of  trustee  from  the  first  till  now.  at  no  trilling 
cost  of  time  and  money,  and  not  a  little  of  toil,  with 
some  anxiety.  But  to  attend  even  one  Commence- 
ment pays  for  it  all.  So  there  is  pleasure  also  in  think- 
ing how  the  churches  have  multiplied.  Instead  of  that 
little  one  at  Denmark  of  1,2  members  in  1838,  the 
first  of  our  Congregational  churches  now  extant,  west 
of  the  Mississippi,  there  are  now  over  300  of  them 
with  a  membership  of  over  a  thousand  to  one  then. 
To  think  of  the  vast  numbers  these  churches  have 
sent  to  the  West  and  North,  to  Kansas,  Nebraska, 
the  Dakotas  and  elsewhere,  even  to  the  Pacific,  show- 
ing how  Iowa  has  been  a  kind  of  seed  plot  for  regions 
around  and  beyond  —  all  this  is  pleasant.  To  have 
seen  all  this  growth  and  development  in  one's  own 
life,  the  privilege  of  having  been  in  it  and  of  it,  is  now 
the  glow  of  the  sunset  hour.  To  see,  as  now  it  is  so 
plainly  seen,  how  God's  hand  has  been  in  it  all,  makes 
it  an  hour,  not  only  of  joy  and  thanksgiving  for  the 
past,  but  of  faith  and  hope  for  the  future  that  things 
begun  are  to  go  on.  Yes,  with  faith  in  God's  loving 
this  world  and  working  for  its  redemption,  life's  sun 
is  setting  with  no  pessimistic  cloud  to  obscure,  but, 


218  THE    IOWA    BAND 

rather,  in  the  glow  of  faith  and  hope.  True,  the  skies 
are  not  all  clear ;  clouds  there  are,  enough  of  them. 
The  millennium  is  not  here ;  peace  is  not  yet  abroad 
upon  the  earth.  The  sins  of  the  nations,  yea,  of  the 
people,  are  many.  The  problems  thicken  of  things 
to  be  done  and  changes  to  be  made.  To  a  thoughtful 
mind  the  appearance  of  impending  crises  is  oppress- 
ive. But  then  it  always  has  been  so.  And  how  the 
crises  have  been  passed ;  what  changes  for  the  better 
have  come,  even  in  one  short  life,  warranting  faith 
and  hope  as  to  the  outcome ! 

In  youth,  slavery  like  a  dark  pall  overshadowed  the 
land.  Where  is  it  now?  How  many  things  come  to 
mind,  once  tolerated  and  defended,  now  discarded,  set 
aside,  things  in  which  some  religious  principle  or 
moral  element  was  involved.  Why  should  not  the 
good  work  go  on?  Why  not  changes  come  —  change 
after  change,  raising  higher  and  higher  the  standard 
of  morals,  making  our  Christian  civilization  more 
truly  Christian  —  Christians  everywhere  becoming 
more  truly  such,  realizing  what  in  this  world  it 
means  to  be  a  Christian?  And  what  a  gap  here  be- 
tween what  is  and  what  ought  to  be  !  What  a  curtail- 
ment of  worldly  living ;  what  truer  use  of  talents  and 
possessions  as  God's  gifts  for  doing  good  in  the  world 
there  must  be  before  we  begin  to  follow  closely  in  the 
footsteps  of  our  blessed  Lord !  Yes,  begin  to  do  it. 
For  how  superficial,  how  shallow  does  life  now  seem 
to  have  been  !     Lookins:  at  it  thus  in  the  reflections 


EVENTIDE  219 

of  this  eventide,  how  it  seems  as  though  the  greal 
thing    needed    was    for    Christians    somehow    to    be 

brought  to  a  stand  in  the  rush  and  whirl  of  life,  and 
each  take  time  seriously  to  inquire,  "Am  I  living"  as 
the  Lord  Jesus  would  have  me?  As  t<>  the  purpose 
of  my  life,  the  use  of  what  God  has  given  me  of 
talents,  wealth  and  opportunities;  in  my  home  and 
among"  my  neighbors ;  in  social  and  civil  life  ;  in  every- 
thing, even  to  the  food  I  eat  and  the  clothes  I  wear; 
am  I  living  as  Christ  would  have  me,  ready  to  put  off 
and  to  put  on,  so  as  to  be  meet  for  his  use  here,  and 
to  meet  him  in  glory  hereafter?" 

This  would  be  a  revival  indeed! — just  the  revival 
which  seems  to  be  now  needed ;  the  only  revival  that 
can  save  the  Church  from  being  weighted  down  by 
shallow  conversions,  if  conversions  at  all,  followed  by 
a  low  standard  of  Christian  living,  which  she  in  her 
own  practice  is  herself  imposing.  Such  a  revival  is 
what  the  Church  needs.  The  world  needs  it ;  in  a 
sense  is  waiting  for  it,  that  there  may  be  felt  in  it  the 
force  of  the  living  Christ  in  the  hearts  and  lives  of  his 
followers.  For,  somehow,  just  as  this  is,  the  stand- 
ards of  morality  are  raised,  and  the  forces  of  evil  are 
weakened. 

Here  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  time  when  strifes 
and  contention  shall  have  ceased ;  the  mists  and  the 
clouds  shall  have  cleared  away ;  capital  and  labor  and 
all  such  problems  have  found  their  solution  ;  social 
questions,  their  ready  answer ;  this  greed  for  wealth 


2  2o  THE    IOWA    BAND 

have  died  out ;  prosperity  be  sanctified,  and  the  whole 
earth  smile  in  the  goodness  of  the  Lord.  This,  when 
Christ  is  enthroned  in  the  hearts  of  the  children  of 
men. 

And  if  this  is  ever  to  be,  who  shall  lead  the  way? 
Who  but  they  who  stand  at  the  altar,  the  ministers  of 
Christ,  as  the  prophets  of  the  Lord?  they  in  bold- 
ness to  declare  the  claims  of  the  Lord  Jesus  upon 
every  soul ;  that  infidelity  to  him  or  wandering  from 
him  are  sins  calling  for  repentance  and  return ;  that 
for  any  soul  refusing  to  obey  him  there  is  no  hope  of 
life  eternal ;  that  nations  too  can  incur  the  displeasure 
and  bring  down  the  judgments  of  God  who  hath  said 
of  our  Lord  and  Christ,  "This  is  my  beloved  Son,  hear 
him." 

As  these  reflections  come  at  this  hour,  when  in  a 
measure  life's  work  is  done  and  one  seems  almost 
alone  with  God,  to  what  conclusions  are  they  leading? 
Is  it  that  from  our  pulpits  the  tone  of  awe  and  rev- 
erence of  a  holy  God,  a  fear  of  his  justice  and  judg- 
ments has  been  dying  out?  This  not  to  frighten  peo- 
ple, but  to  be  true  to  God  and  to  show  that  we  see 
his  ways  and  walk  in  them.     Perhaps. 

At  any  rate,  if  ever  there  was  a  time  when  the  min- 
istry should  seriously  inquire  how  to  live  and  how  to 
preach,  now  is  the  day.  As  these  thoughts  are 
borne  in,  the  impulse  comes  to  break  out  of  this 
meditative  mood  and  utter  to  the  ministry  at  large 
a  word  of — ,  but  no!  this  is  too  assuming.       Still, 


EVENTIDE  221 

had  I  the  ear  of  my  brother  ministers  in  Iowa,  J 
would  dare  to  say,  Hear  brethren,  the  crown  of  all 
work,  the  most  potent,  the  most  far-reaching-  power 
for  good  in  this  world,  so  far  as  man  is  concerned. 
is  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
each  one  in  the  church  and  among  the  people  where 
in  the  providence  of  God  he  is  placed.  In  his  provi- 
dence you  are  here  in  Iowa.  One  cannot  go  every- 
where or  do  everything.  This  is  your  field.  What 
better  can  you  desire?  Ponder  well  its  history;  its 
rapid  growth  ;  its  wonderful  development.  There  is 
inspiration  in  it.  If  in  its  workers  at  the  beginning 
of  things  you  see  aught  to  admire  or  imitate,  bear 
it  in  mind.  But  live  not  in  the  past.  Dwell  not 
upon  it  as  though  the  favored  times  were  behind  you. 
Think  not  in  yourselves  to  say,  "No  frontiers  now; 
no  more  the  days  of  heroic,  Christian  labor  here,  but 
the  humdrum  of  commonplace,  everyday  work."  No ! 
no !  Keep  your  eye  upon  the  present.  See  what  is 
now  going  on  ;  what  now  is  to  be  done,  with  your  face 
ever  to  the  future.  Growth  and  development !  They 
are  just  beginning.  Look  up  and  around.  Two  mil- 
lions and  more  now  here,  indeed,  but  millions  more 
are  soon  to  be.  The  vast  territories  of  thirty-one  years  . 
ago  are  states  now  swiftly  filling  up  with  their  millions 
crowding  on  to  far  distant  Alaska.  The  whole  nation 
is  expanding  within  and  without.  New  problems  are 
pressing,  problems  at  home  and  problems  abroad. 
Think  of  Cuba.     Think  of  the  Philippines.     Think  of 


222  THE    IOWA    BAND 

the  world.  No !  no  !  You  stand  at  the  threshold  of 
mighty  things,  in  view  of  which,  now,  now  are  the 
beginnings.  This  new  century  is  to  pass  away  and 
others  are  to  come.  It  opens  with  no  bow  of  peace 
spanning  the  heavens ;  no  breaking  of  clouds  as  of 
victories  easily  won  ;  but  the  gatherings  of  storms  and 
conflicts  rather. 

The  final  issue  is  indeed  sure,  for  God  is ;  but  not 
without  faithful,  courageous  and  self-denying  labor 
on  the  part  of  his  people.  No!  no!  again.  The  true 
frontiers,  the  heroic  days  are  before,  not  behind. 
Around  every  Christian  minister  there  runs  a  line 
across  which  are  new  steps  to  be  taken,  new  advances 
made  to  bring  him  nearer  to  the  pattern  of  his  Lord. 
So  around  his  church.  So  around  the  whole  Church 
at  large  in  these  world-engrossing  days.  The  wide, 
wide  gap  must  be  filled,  for  a  type  of  Christianity  to 
cope  with  the  present-day  forces  of  this  evil  world  and 
3o  the  work  now  opening  up  before  us. 

For  the  doors  are  being  lifted  up.  We  are  talking 
of  a  King  and  a  kingdom  here  on  earth  as  never  be- 
fore. We  are  beginning  to  realize  that  it  is  not  simply 
a  personal  salvation  by  and  by  in  heaven  above 
through  a  quiet,  silent  faith  in  Jesus ;  this  world  en- 
dured, got  along  with  till  that  shall  be,  but  that  this 
Jesus  has  a  kingdom  here  on  earth.  This  kingdom  is 
to  be  established  by  the  faithful  service  of  those  who 
hear  his  voice.  "As  my  Father  hath  sent  me  even  so 
send  I  you."     They  that  toil  even  to  self-denial  and 


EVENTIDE  223 

suffering-  here,  arc  the  ones  to  reign  with  Him  above. 
What  a  life  this  is  compared  to  one  of  ease  and  quiet 
with  our  heads  upon  the  bosom  of  the  Church  and  our 
hearts  in  the  world ! 

Dear  brethren,  in  view  of  the  world's  need,  with  the 
gospel  remedy  so  plainly  in  view,  do  not  the  very 
times  demand  a  Christian  living  and  a  Christian 
preaching  as  never  before?  Who  will  lead  the  way? 
Here  is  the  frontier  work,  here  are  to  be  found  the 
heroic  days.  Soon,  soon  this  young  century  will  have 
grown  old.  Sooner,  sooner  than  this  your  sun  will 
have  set.  Let  it  be  at  the  close  of  a  day  well  spent. 
Each  faithful  in  his  own  field,  for  faithful  work  in 
Iowa  is  world-wide.  Help  to  make  her  more  and  more 
the  gem  of  states.  This  cannot  fail  to  bless  the  nation 
and  the  nations  of  earth. 

A  single  word  more,  —  not  as  an  expression  simply 
of  personal  feeling,  but  in  behalf  of  my  brethren  of  the 
Band  now  no  more,  but  who,  if  living,  would  doubtless 
join  me  in  saying.  "Dear  brethren,  you  have  been 
kind  to  us,  and  very  considerate.  We  have  loved  the 
work,  have  loved  you.  In  your  annual  gatherings  of 
fellowship  and  counsel  some  of  us  have  always  been 
with  you,  till  but  two  are  left.  Ere  long  it  will  be  said, 
"The  last  one  is  gone."  May  the  blessings  of  God 
rest  upon  you.     lie  ye  faithful.     And  now,  adieu. 


APPENDIXES 


APPENDIX    I 
Minutes  at  Occasional  Meetings  of  the  Band 

The  undersigned  of  the  Class  of  1843  in  the  Theological 
Seminary  of  Andover  assembled  in  the  twentieth  year  since 
their  landing  in  Iowa  at  the  24th  annual  meeting  of  the  Con- 
gregational Association  of  the  State,  record  with  gratitude 
their  testimony  to  the  faithfulness  and  care  with  which  Divine 
Providence  and  grace  have  upheld  them,  their  continued  and 
confirmed  trust  in  the  promises  of  the  great  Head  of  the 
Church,  their  joy  and  gladness  of  heart  in  the  work;  and  they 
send  to  their  brethren  in  every  place  who  labor  in  the  cause  of 
salvation  and  especially  those  who  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion shall  succeed  them  in  this  field,  words  of  greeting  and 
cheer. 
Burlington.  June  6,  A.D.  1863. 

Harvey    Adams. 

Daniel    Lane. 

J.    J.    Hill. 

A.  B.  Robbins. 
E.  Adams, 

B.  A.    Spaulding, 
William   Salter. 

Drawn  up  by  William  Salter. 


Burlington.  June  6.  1873. 
Again  the  undersigned  of  the  Class  of  1843  in  the  Seminary 
of  Andover,  Massachusetts,  convened  at  the  home  of  our 
brother  and  classmate.  Rev.  Wm.  Salter,  at  the  34th  annual 
meet  of  the  Congregational  Association  of  Iowa,  our  adopted 
state  renew  their  testimonv  to  the  faithfulness  and  care  of 
the  God  of  their  fathers.     We  render  humble  thanks  for  the 

225 


226  APPENDIXES 

continuance  not  only  of  our  own  lives  but  also  of  the  lives  of 
those  whom  God  has  made  of  "one  flesh"  with  us. 

From  the  beginning  of  our  labors  in  this  Western  field  to 
the  present  time,  we  have  rejoiced  that  the  great  Head  of  the 
Church  directed  our  footsteps  thither,  and  we  here  record  our 
earnest  conviction  that  humility,  gratitude,  love  and  faith  in 
God  should  be  the  controlling  feelings  of  our  hearts  towards 
Him  who  thus  far  has  led  us  on.  By  his  grace  we  are  what 
we  are.  By  his  grace  we  have  accomplished  what  little  we 
have  done.    In  the  same  grace  we  will  trust  unto  the  end. 

Daniel  Lane,  aged  60, 
Ephraim  Adams,  aged  55, 
Alden  B.   Robbins,  aged  56, 
William    Salter,  aged  51, 
Harvey  Adams,  aged  64. 
Drawn  up  by  Daniel  Lane. 


Burlington,  Iowa,  June  2,  1876. 
Nearly  thirty-three  years  ago  the  undersigned  members  of 
the  class  of  1843  at  Andover  landed  at  this  place,  inquiring  for 
the  most  needy  fields  of  missionary  labor  in  Iowa  territory. 
We  thank  God  for  this  third  of  a  century  of  opportunity  to 
bear  some  humble  part  in  planting  churches  of  Christ  in  this 
great  state  and  other  states,  and  in  laying  foundations  of  educa- 
tional institutions.  Though  a  few  wrinkles  upon  the  brow  and 
silver  locks  remind  us  that  bone  and  muscle  will  wear  out,  we 
are  not  weary  in  well  doing.  Our  hearts  were  never  more 
cheerful,  our  love  for  the  work  stronger,  or  our  faith  in  the 
triumph  of  the  gospel  over  this  fair  Western  land  of  our 
adoption  more  firm.  We  meet  here  on  the  35th  annual  gath- 
ering of  the  churches  of  Iowa  to  witness  with  joy  what  the 
Lord  has  done  for  Iowa.  Probably  we  shall  not  all  of  us 
meet  again  in  the  flesh.  But  the  shining  river  is  not  far  ahead, 
where  we  shall  soon  meet  and  have  ample  time  to  recount  our 
life  experiences  and  work. 

E.   B.  Turner,  age  63, 
E.  Adams,  age  58, 
Harvey   Adams,  age  67, 
A.   B.   Robbins.   age  50, 
W.   Salter,  age  54. 
Drawn  up  by  E.  B.  Turner. 


APPENDIXES  227 

Muscatine,  towa,  May  19,  1893. 
Members  of  the  Class  of  1843,  Andover  Theological  Semi- 
nary, who  came  in  that  year  to  the  territory  of  Iowa  to  prose- 
cute the  work  of  the  Lord  Jesus  and  who  have  continued 
therein  to  the  present  time,  assembled  at  the  54th  annual 
meeting  of  the  Congregational  Association  of  Iowa  in  the 
City  of  Muscatine,  the  field  of  labor  in  which  one  of  our  num- 
ber has  fulfilled  his  ministry  of  continuous  service  from  the 
beginning,  and  now  gathered  together  in  the  hospitable  home 
of  Mrs.  Dr.  P.  B.  Johnson,  of  this  city,  record  their  testimony 
to  the  loving-kindness  of  the  Lord  in  all  the  years  of  their 
hibor  and  their  unfaltering  faith  in  the  gospel  of  our  Saviour 
w  hich  they  have  humbly  endeavored  to  preach  in  simplicity 
and  godly  sincerity,  not  with  fleshly  wisdom,  but  by  the  grace 
of  God.  They  assure  their  successors  in  the  work  of  the 
fidelity  of  the  great  Head  of  the  Church  to  the  promise,  "Lo 
I  am  with  you  alway.  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  And 
they  commend  that  promise  to  the  firm,  implicit  confidence  of 
those  who  are  called  to  teach  men  to  observe  and  to  do  all 
things  whatsoever  that  Jesus  commands. 

Harvey    Adams. 
A.   B.  Robrins, 
H.  Adams, 
Wm.    Salter. 
Drawn  up  by  \\  illiam  Salter. 


Waterloo,  Iowa,  Sept.  16.  1895. 
The  undersigned  members  of  the  Iowa  Band  deem  the 
present  date  a  fitting  occasion  to  note  some  of  the  special  deal- 
ings of  our  heavenly  Father  with  us.  and  to  express  our 
acknowledgments  of  his  continued  goodness.  While  all  of 
us  who  remain  have  been  allowed  to  pass  our  three  score  and 
ten,  and  some  by  many  years,  yet  death  has  taken  loved  ones 
from  our  households.  The  wives  of  three  of  the  Band  have 
left  for  their  heavenly  home.  These  were  Mrs.  Wm.  Salter, 
Mrs.  Harvey  Adams,  and  Mrs.  A.  B.  Robbins.  They  were 
women  who  had  made  happy  homes,  who  had  also  served  the 
churches  and  their  generation  well.  While  by  their  departure 
their  surviving  partners  and  parishes  are  made  to  feel  the 
weight  of  a  great  sorrow,  they  yet  feel  that  the  departed  are 
enjoying  the  reward  of  their  earthlv  service.  Also  one  of  the 
Band  has  fallen  asleep — the  Rev.  E.  B.  Turner.  His  labors 
were   more  largely  in   Illinois  and   Missouri.     There  arc  now 


2  28  APPENDIXES 


surviving  of  the  Band  four  in  Iowa,  and  one  in  Massachusetts. 
Of  the  wives  still  living,  there  are  Mrs.  D.  Lane,  Mrs.  E.  B. 
Turner,  Mrs.  B.  A.  Spaulding,  and  Mrs.  E.  Adams.  Mrs. 
Adams  is  the  only  surviving  wife  in  Iowa  and  she  and  her 
husband  are  the  only  couple  of  the  Band  who  have  lived  to 
celebrate  their  golden  wedding.  That  occurs  on  the  day  of  this 
date.  The  two  of  us  present,  who  have  been  associated  with 
them  during  these  fifty  years,  would  not  only  express  to  them 
but  put  into  this  memorandum  warm  and  hearty  congratula- 
tions with  them  that  have  lived  to  see  this  joyful  and  eventful 
occasion.  God  has  been  kind  to  them.  May  the  kindness 
long  continue  ! 

There  is  need  only  to  add  that  while  those  of  us  whose 
wives  have  gone  before,  still  deeply  and  constantly  mourn 
their  loss,  we  would  here  record  our  fuller  sense  of  the  rich- 
ness, the  sufficiency  and  surety  of  divine  consolation  for  every 
time  of  need. 

Harvey  Adams, 
Ephraim    Adams. 
William     Salter. 
Drawn  up  by  Harvey  Adams. 


Waterloo,  May  16,  1897. 

The  members  of  the  Iowa  Band  who  to-day  in  the  home  of 
one  of  them  sign  this  paper,  make  record  as  follows : 

Since  we  met  in  Burlington  one  year  ago,  three  of  our  num- 
ber have  passed  over  to  the  presence  of  our  Saviour  and 
Lord :  Brother  H.  Adams  in  New  Hampton,  A.  B.  Robbins 
in  Muscatine,  and  Mrs.  E.  B.  Turner  in  Owego,  New  York. 
Beside  ourselves  there  only  remain  Brother  E.  Alden  of 
Marsbfield.  Massachusetts.  Mrs.  D.  La,ne,  of  Freeport,  Maine, 
and  Mrs.  B.  A.  Spaulding  of  Ottumwa.  It  is  now  fifty-four 
years  since  our  work  in  Iowa  began  and  we  wish  still  to  record 
the  goodness  of  God  in  bringing  us  at  an  auspicious  time  to  a 
good  field  and  that  his  blessing  has  rested  upon  it.  Drawing 
near  to  the  sunset  of  our  day,  it  is  a  joy  to  think  of  even  the 
little  part  we  may  have  had  in  what  God  through  his  servants 
has  done  in  Iowa.  It  is  the  Lord's  doing  and  marvelous  in 
our  eyes.  It  is  with  fond  affection  we  cherish  the  memories 
of  pur  brothers  and  sisters  who  have  gone  before  to  the  bless- 
edness, we  trust,  of  those  who  die  in  the  Lord,  and  we,  though 
only  the  remnant  of  families  and  of  the  Band,  gratefully 
acknowledge  that  not  one  thing  hath   failed   of  all   which  the 


APPENDIXES  229 

Lord  oar  God  hath  promised.  Ami  our  hope  is  that  when  our 
summons  comes,  as  soon  it  must,  we,  as  believers  in  Jesus, 
may  be  gathered  with  them  for  yet  further  service  and  joy  on 
the  other  shore. 

\\  clliam   Salter, 
Ephraim    Adams, 
Mrs.   Ephraim    Adams. 
Drawn  up  by  Ephraim  Adams. 

Atlantic,  Cass  County,  Iowa,  May  21,  A.D.  1899. 
In  attendance  at  the  60th  annual  meeting  of  the  Congrega- 
tional Association  of  the  state,  and  entertained  at  the  hospi- 
table home  of  D.  Findlay,  M.  D.,  the  surviving  members  of  the 
Iowa  Band  of  1843  record  their  devout  and  grateful  acknowl- 
edgment to  the  divine  mercy  and  grace  which  ior  nfty-Mx 
years  have  sustained  them  in  the  work  of  the  Christian  minis- 
try in  Iowa.  They  see  with  joy  and  gladness  that  in  every 
portion  of  the  commonwealth,  churches  and  ministers  which 
hold  the  ancient  faith  and  order  of  the  gospel  have  been  mul- 
tiplied With  admiring  satisfaction  they  behold  the  zeal  and 
devotion  and  the  enlightened  spirit  of  their  younger  brethren 
in  the  ministry  and  they  give  to  those  brethren  their  cordial 
salutation  and  blessing  in  the  Lord  Jesus.  Recalling  with  hal- 
lowed and  tender  affection  the  members  of  the  Band  who  were 
formerlv  with  us,  with  whom  we  have  labored  and  prayed  to- 
gether for  the  salvation  of  Iowa,  whose  spirits  now  rest  in 
God,  they  rejoice  in  the  blest  tie  which,  as  it  was  in  the  be- 
ginning and  as  it  has  been  for  more  than  a  half  century,  still 
binds  our  hearts  in  Christian  love,  and  to-day  makes  the  fel- 
lowship of  our  kindred  minds  like  that  above. 

Ephraim  Adams,  age  81, 
William  Salter,  age  77- 
Drawn  up  by  William  Salter. 

Burlington.  Iowa,  May  24,  1901. 
The  last  surviving  members  of  those  who  came  to  the  Ter- 
ritory of  Iowa  from  the  Theological  Institution  of  Andover, 
Massachusetts,  in  tin-  year  1843.  assembled  in  the  city  of  Bur- 
lington at  the  sixty-second  annual  meeting  of  the  Congrega- 
tional Association  "of  the  state,  record  their  devout  thanks- 
giving to  the  great  Head  of  the  Church  for  the  continued  care 
of  divine  Providence  over  them  to  the  fifty-eighth  year  of 
(heir  ministry  in  Iowa,  their  grateful  recollections  of  the  good- 


230  APPENDIXES 

ness  of  God  in  giving  to  them,  and  to  their  brethren  who  have 
rested  from  their  labors,  a  humble  part  in  planting  Christian 
civilization  in  this  beloved  Commonwealth,  and  their  fervent 
prayers  that  the  fruits  of  righteousness  may  in  every  part  of 
the  state  be  sown  in  peace  of  them  that  make  peace  in  all  the 
future  years  of  its  history. 

Ephraim  Adams,  age  83, 
Mrs.   Ephraim  Adams,  age  80, 
William  Salter,  age  79. 
Drawn  up  by  William  Salter. 


APPENDIX   II 

Boston,   May  28,    1844. 

A  meeting  of  gentlemen  was  held  at  the  Home  Mission 
Rooms  at  the  request  of  the  Rev'd  Asa  Turner  of  the  Ter- 
ritory of  Iowa. 

The  following  gentlemen   were  present : — 
Rev'd  Calvin  E.   Stowe,  Rev'd  I.  A.  Allro, 

Rev'd  George  E.  Pierce.  Rev'd  William  Tyler, 

Rev'd  Edward  Beecher,  Rev'd  E.  N.  Kirk. 

Rev'd  R.  S.  Storrs,  Rev'd  Milton  Badger. 

Rev'd  Theron  Baldwin.  Mr.   D.    Noyes. 

Rev'd  John  M.  Ellis,  Mr.  I.  A.  Palmer. 

Rev'd  Dr.  Storrs  was  called  to  the  chair,  and  E.  Beecher 
was  appointed  secretary. 

A  record  was  read  by  the  Rev'd  Mr.  Turner  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Iowa  College  Association— proposing  a  plan  for 
the  founding  and  endowment  of  a  college  by  the  purchase  of 
a  tract  of  land.  Statements  were  so  made  by  Mr.  Turner  ex- 
planatory of  their  views. 

Dr.  Storrs  being  obliged  to  retire.  D.  Noyes  was  called  to 
the  chair  in  his  place. 

Questions  were  then  proposed  to  elicit  as  fully  as  possible 
the  facts  of  the  case,  and  the  whole  subject  was  carefully  dis- 
cussed. 

After  this  discussion,  a  committee  was  appointed  consisting 
of  D.  Noyes.  Geo.  E.  Pierce.  E.  Beecher.  and  Theron  Ba'd- 
win.  to  whom  the  three  following  questions  were  referred : 

1.  Is  it  expedient  at  this  time  to  begin  an  effort  for  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  college  in  Iowa? 

2.  Is  the  plan  proposed  by  Mr.  Turner  best  adapted  to  se- 
cure the  end  in  view0 

3.  If  not.  what  plan  is  to  be  preferred  to  it  ? 

Voted  to  adjourn  to  to-morrow  at  3  P.  M.  at  this  place. 


Boston.  May  29.  1844. 
According   to    adjournment,    the    meeting   was   held    at    the 
Home    Mission   Rooms. 
The  gentlemen  of  the  committee  made  individual  reports  on 
331 


232  APPENDIXES 

the  questions  assigned  to  them ;  and  there  being  an  entire  con- 
currence of  views,  the  separate  reports  were  assigned  to  E. 
Beecher  to  be  united  in  one  as  the  opinion  of  this  meeting — 
which  was  done  as  follows : — 

1.  Is  it  expedient  at  this  time  to  begin  an  effort  for  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  college  in  Iowa? 

It  is  expedient  to  begin  to  put  things  in  train  for  the  foun- 
dation of  a  college  in  Iowa,  in  order  to  secure  united  counsels, 
and  to  be  in  a  condition  to  take  advantage  of  all  available 
means  for  securing  the  end. 

2.  Is  the  plan  proposed  best  adapted  to  gain  the  end  in 
view  ? 

The  plan  of  endeavoring  to  endow  a  college  by  borrowing 
money  to  purchase  a  township  of  land,  confiding  in  its  increase 
of  value  in  five  years,  to  repay  the  principal,  involves  the  fol- 
lowing serious  disadvantages : — 

(1)  The  risking  the  success  of  the  whole  enterprise  on  the 
chances  of  making  a  wise  purchase,  sure  to  increase  in  value. 

(2)  The  difficulty  of  securing  the  requisite  quantity  of 
land,  just  where  the  great  interests  of  collegiate  education  for 
ages  to  come  would  demand  a  college  and  the  irreparable  in- 
jury to  the  enterprise  of  failing  to  do  this. 

(3)  The  risking  of  the  success  of  the  enterprise  on  the 
financial  skill  of  an  association  of  benevolent  men,  whose  main 
ends  are  intellectual  and  moral  and  not  financial. 

(4)  The  injury  to  which  the  ministry  of  Iowa  are  exposed 
if  they  undertake  to  carry  through  so  vast  a  system  of  specu- 
lation by  the  absorption  of  mind  in  secular  and  commercial 
and  agricultural  interests  and  plans,  which  it  will  produce. 

(5)  The  obstacles  which  such  a  plan  would  present  to  the 
cultivation  of  a  benevolent  and  self-denying  spirit  in  the 
churches.  If  the  land  was  secured  it  would  afford  a  good  ex- 
cuse for  not  giving,  and  thus  the  primary  steps  would  take 
the  college  out  of  the  bosom  of  the  churches  and  throw  it 
into  the  cold  regions  of  speculation. 

(6)  The  character  and  reputation  of  the  ministry  of  Iowa 
would  be  exposed  to  great  abuse.  For  in  the  transaction  of 
so  much  business  it  would  be  strange  if  no  occasions  of  hos- 
tility and  odium  should  arise,  and  if  any  imprudent  or  in- 
defensible steps  are  taken  by  only  one  or  two  of  their  agents, 
still  the  odium  would  extend  to  all  more  or  less. 

(7)  If  the  final  results  of  the  speculation  should  be  unfor- 
tunate it  would  be  in  the  highest  degree  disastrous. 

(8)  Should  there  be  a  failure  there  would  be  less  sympathy 
to  fall  back  upon, 


APPENDIXES 


233 


(9)  rhere  is  a  strong  prejudice  at  the  East  against  all 
plans  oi  Chris  sort,  from  the  failure  of  other  plans  based  on  the 
idea  oi  securing  endowments  by  the  rise  of  land— and  even  if 
this  plan  were  entirely  unexceptionable,  it  would  be  impossible 
to  free  it  from  the  opposing  influence  of  that  prejudice. 

In  view  of  these  considerations  we  cannot  recommend  the 
plan  as  adopted  to  gain  the  end  in  view. 

3.    What  plan  is  to  be  preferred  to  it? 

The  wisest  plan  would  be  to  obtain  a  good  location  for  the 
college  in  the  best  place ;  taking  an  enlarged  view  of  the  great 
interests  of  collegiate  education  in  all  ages. 

To  obtain  this  location  if  possible  by  donation,  and  not  to 
be  anxious  to  secure  more  land  at  the  college  than  is  sufficient 
for  college  purposes — say  forty  acres. 

At  the  same  time  to  receive  by  way  of  donation  as  much 
land  as  will  be  given  cither  near  the  college  or  elsewhere. 

To  avoid  the  contraction  of  debts  as  a  first  principle. 

To  form  an  accumulating  fund,  and  to  endeavor  to  train 
every  church  to  add  something  to  it  every  year,  that  the  col- 
lege may  be  from  the  outset  rooted  in  "their  affections  and 
grow  with  their  growth,  and  strengthen  with  their  strength 
loo  much  importance  cannot  be  attached  to  this  simple 
measure.  Do  not  despise  the  day  of  small  things— and  trust 
in  God  to  open  and  unite  all  hearts. 

Let  all  donations  be  outright,  and  no  peculiar  privileges  be 
offered  to  donors  for  future  ages,  as  a  compensation  for  dona- 
tions. 

Secure  if  possible  the  immediate  payments  of  all  donations. 

Regard  an  elevated  reputation,  and  the  affections  and  con- 
fidence of  the  community  as  your  best  endowment  and  as  lead- 
ing under  God  to  the  securing  of  all  the  aid  that  you  need 

As  early  as  may  be  safely  done,  begin  instruction  on  a 
moderate  scale,  and  enlarge  your  plans  with  your  means 

Aid  from  the  East  cannot  be  obtained  as  it  once  was  The 
newly  formed  society  is  rapidly  gaining  the  confidence  of  the 
Eastern  churches,  and  through  it  aid  may  be  obtained  when 
the  pan  and  the  system  of  instruction  shall  be  so  matured 
that  they  can  secure  the  confidence  of  the  Eastern  mind 

Meantime,  patience,  perseverance,   enlarged  views   and   hope 
1,1  ';°.d  are  essential  to  begin  and  to  execute  such  a  plan 
•    J-   -5  1S,  the  substance  of  the  particular  reports  made  by  the 
individuals   of   the  committee   united   as   one.   by   order  of   the 
meeting. 

Attest. 

E.   Beecher,   Secretary. 


GOWBKffiV  FBQ.M 

JHnp 

I  O  WA 


ADDENDA 


NOTES 


Note  i  page  12.  Of  that  prayer-meeting  it  can  be  said  that 
it  has  never  wholly  died  out.  The  members  of  the  Hand,  ot 
course,  held  it  in  mind.  Some  of  their  brethren,  especially  in 
the  earlier  days,  joined  in  this  remembrance  of  each  other,  it 
is  but  a  few  years  since  at  a  General  Association  by  a  rising 
vote  they  pledged  an  observance  of  Tuesday  night.  It  is  not 
to  be  supposed  in  a  changing  ministry  that  all  would  do  this, 
but  it  can  with  safety  be  said  that,  up  to  this  time  there  al- 
ways have  been  those,  sometimes  more,  sometimes  less,  who 
have  remembered  it.  Often  has  it  been  a  comfort  to  those  in 
affliction  to  know  that  at  a  specified  time  their  names  were 
mentioned  at  the  throne  of  grace.  And  what  a  bond  of  broth- 
erhood it  would  be  among  the  ministers  of  any  state  to  have  a 
concert  of  prayer  for  one  another! 

Note  2   p    22.    Two  incidents  during  the  stay  at  Milwaukee 
are  fresh'in  mind.    One.  a  Monday  morning  call  upon  the  pas- 
tor of  our  church  there,  a  modest,  retiring  young  man.  atter 
vards  known  as  Dr.  Chapin,  the  first  and  for  so  long  a  time 
Mden     of   Beloit   College.     The   second,   an   interview   with 

^Stephen  Peet.  at  that  time  Missionary  Agent  of  Wiscon- 
sin who  true  to  his  work  in  hand,  labored  somewhat  urgently 
,0  produce  the  conviction  that  in  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin 
SbS  the  fields  of  greatest  need  and  promise,  wh>  e  owa  ler- 
ritory  was  so  far  wesl  and  so  crude  as  to  make  it  almost  pre- 
posterous for  so  many  to  think  of  going  there. 

Notf  1  u  26  The  hospitalities  of  that  entrance  to  Iowa 
were  never  forgotten.  Then  were  acquaintances  formed  and 
friendships  begun  that  grew  and  strengthened  in  after  years. 
There  was  a,  that   tune  in   Burlington  a  veritable  mother  in 

Mrs    James  G.  Edwards,  and  her  generous-hearted  hus- 
band   ,'e    founder,   editor   and    proprietor   of   the   Burlington 


.36  ADDENDA 


Hawkeye,  whose  western  experience  enabled  them  to  see  what 
these  young  men  whom  they  took  to  their  home  had  before 
them,  as  they  could  not.  Everything  said  and  done  seemed  to 
be  out  of  the  motherly  heart  full  of  joy,  yet  serious  and  earnest, 
for  God's  blessing  on  the  work  in  band.  The  hymn  for  morn- 
ing worship  was  well  chosen : 

Kindred  in  Christ,  for  his  dear  sake, 
A  hearty  welcome  here  receive. 
May  we  together  now  partake 
The  joys  which  only  He  can  give. 

Note  4,  p.  31.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  has  never  been  a 
time  when  all  have  been  together  since  leaving  the  seminary. 
Yet  the  occasions  in  Iowa  where  a  number  have  met  have  by 
no  means  been  infrequent.  Especially  has  this  been  the  case 
at  annual  meetings  of  the  General  Association.  Not  always, 
but  frequently,  on  such  occasions  have  they  recorded  their  tes- 
timony as  to  themselves,  their  fields  of  labor,  etc.,  in  reading 
which  it  can  be  seen  how  the  Band  has  melted  away  till  but  a 
remnant  is  left. 

Note  5,  p.  37.  The  position  of  the  Band  of  Congregational- 
ists  thus  taken  by  the  side  of  those  who  welcomed  them  here, 
whose  united  work  made  Iowa  an  object  lesson  for  the  ideals 
of  such  spirits  as  Ellis  and  Sturtevant  and  Post,  of  Illinois,  of 
Hobart,  of  Michigan,  was  the  coming  of  a  new  chapter  into 
our  denominational  history  in  the  West  and  through  the  land, 
a  chapter  but  little  appreciated  in  these  days.  But  few  under- 
stand the  situation  at  that  time  or  realize  the  importance  of 
those  things  that  turned  the  scale.  If  any  one  is  interested  to 
know  these  things,  he  can  do  no  better  than  turn  to  the  Recol- 
lections of  a  Nonagenarian,  by  the  late  Dr.  Holbrook  who  was 
an  actor  therein. 

Note  6,  p.  38.  It  is  pleasing  to  read,  in  a  letter  of  Father 
Turner  to  Rev.  J.  A.  Reed,  more  than  twenty  years  after  the 
coming  of  the  Band,  such  words  as  these:  "I  have  never  been 
disappointed  in  them.  I  have  reason  for  gratitude  to  them  and 
to  God  that  they  have  always  treated  me  with  so  much  kind- 
ness and  confidence,  and  that  the  experience  of  twenty-one 
years  has  led  me  to  esteem  them  so  highly  in  love  for  their 
works'   sake."  Brother  Reed  used  to   say  of  the  members   of 


ADDENDA  237 

the   Band   and    those   before   them,   "that    like-   two   drops   of 
water  flowing  together  they  became  one." 

Note  7,  p.  39.  The  map  on  page  234  will  show  not  only  the 
placo  named  in  this  chapter,  but  also  suggest  the  state  of 
things  at  t he  time,  away  to  the  west,  even  to  the  Pacific  Indian 
Territory.  The  journey  described  was  made  by  the  author  in 
the  summer  of  1S44.  In  the  first  edition  he  disguised  himself 
and  brethren  by  the  use  of  initials,  etc.,  but  in  this  edition  the 
real  names  are  given. 

Note  8,  p.  51.  The  author  shrinks  from  making  frequent 
allusions  to  his  own  experience,  hut  he  may  he  allowed,  per- 
haps, to  state  what  in  particular  led  him  to  Denmark  at  this 
lime.  It  was  a  question  awaiting  decision,  to  him  of  no  little 
weight.  There  had  come  an  invitation  to  succeed  Brother 
Hitchcock  in  his  labors  just  closed  at  Davenport.  A  call  from 
a  church  of  eighteen  members  and  fairly,  organized  ;  a  church 
building  just  being  completed,  that  seemed  spacious  (28x38)  : 
a  river  location  in  scenery  of  surpassing  beauty — a  call  to  what 
seemed  a  field  of  greater  usefulness— these  were  attractions; 
but  not  to  be  yielded  to  without  counsel  and  advice  of  Father 
Turner,  then  the  Home  Missionary  Agent  for  a  portion  of  his 
time.  So  an  interview  was  sought.  In  his  study  the  situation 
was  stated — the  pros  and  cons  gone  over ;  then  a  walk  together 
along  the  alley  leading  from  his  residence  to  a  farm  gate  shut- 
ting it  in  from  the  highway,  the  matter  still  under  discussion, 
and  there  continued  for  some  moments,  one  upon  one  side  of 
the  gate,  and  the  other  upon  the  other,  till  a  decision  was  ar- 
rived at  in  this  wise: 

''Why,"  said  he,  as  a  reason  for  change,  "you  can  fit  students 
in  Latin  and  Greek  for  college,  can't  you,  if  necessary?" 

"Why,  yes,  of  course,"  was  the  reply. 

"Well,  then,"  said  he,  "go  to  Davenport ;  prepare  the  way 
for  the  college." 

So  came  an  eleven  years'  pastorate  there,  with  much  outside 
work  for  what  will  appear  in  a  chapter  yet  to  come. 

Note  9,  p.  58.  The  family  alluded  to  was  that  of  Charles 
Atkinson,  Esq.,  of  Moline,  Illinois,  elder  brother  of  Rev.  Geo. 
Atkinson  of  Oregon  fame.  The  Father  in  the  ministry  was 
Father  Turner;  the  youthful  minister,  the  writer.  Fresh  in 
mind  are  the  very  attitude,  the  earnestness  of  tone  and  look 
when  he  made  the  prophecy,   just   as  after  reading  the   Scrip- 


238 


ADDENDA 


tures  and  a  season  of  prayer  he  was  taking  his  leave.  In  that 
region  now  there  are  over  one  hundred  thousand  inhabitants 
and  the  number  is  still  increasing. 

Note  io,  _p.  95.  It  was  incumbent  upon  the  writer  to  carry 
this  paper  to  the  East  for  publication.  It  was  presented  first  to 
Secretary  Badger  at  New  York,  with  but  little  doubt  that  he 
would  favor  the  plan,  but  he  began  at  once  very  politely  to 
discourage  it.  As  the  reasons  for  it  were  urged.  "Well,"  he 
said,  "you  are  going  to  Boston,  carry  it  to  Dr.  Clark,  (he  Mas- 
sachusetts Secretary,  and  see  what  he  says."  The  paper  pre- 
sented to  him  met  with  the  same  discouragement.  As  the  rea- 
sons were  being  rehearsed  with  the  urgency  of  a  last  chance, 
''Well,"  said  he,  "it  is  of  no  use :  Dr.  Badger  has  written  to 
me  about  it  and  we  are  agreed.  The  churches  won't  stand  it." 
The  effort  was  fruitless  unless,  as  a  result  of  it,  there  appeared 
in  the  Home  Missionary,  soon  after,  beautiful  pictures  of  log- 
cabin  churches  and  cheap  frame  churches,  with  calculations 
made  showing  with  how  little  money  they  could  be  built. 

Note  ii,  p.  104.  And  further  still.  So  far  as  known,  the 
first  conception  of  a  college  in  Iowa  was  in  the  mind  of  Reu- 
ben Gaylord  while  yet  a  student  in  Yale,  and  before  Iowa  had 
fairly  begun  to  be,  and  is  found  in  a  letter  of  his  written  in 
1838,  to  the  secretaries  of  the  A.  H.  M.  S.,  which  tells  of  an 
enterprise  in  which  he  and  some  others  are  interested  in  re- 
spect to  education  and  a  college  in  the  Iowa  District,  the 
Black  Hawk  Purchase,  asking  what  they  can  do  to  help  in  the 
matter.  That  letter,  in  his  own  handwriting,  through  (he  cour- 
tesy of  the  secretaries,  is  now  in  the  Iowa  alcove  of  the  Col- 
lege Library.  Coming  himself  to  Iowa  soon  after,  to  join 
Turner  and  Reed,  also  from  Yale,  we  are  not  surprised  to 
find  in  the  minutes  of  their  early  Association  mention  made  of 
committees,  and  reports  in  reference  to  a  college.  As  to  the 
Band,  one  evening  previous  to  their  coming,  they  were  by 
special  invitation  in  the  home  of  that  good  man,  Samuel  Far- 
rar,  the  treasurer  of  Andover  Seminary.  He  planned  the 
opportunity,  and  faithfully  did  he  improve  it,  of  urging  that 
a  part  of  their  missionary  work  in  Iowa  should  be  the  early 
founding  of  a  college,  giving  to  each  a  copy  of  the  charter  and 
constitution  of  Phillips  Academy,  out  of  which  came  the  Sem- 
inary. One  of  the  copies  is  also  now  in  the  college  archives. 
That  first  meeting  in  Denmark  was  where  the  two  sets  of  in- 
fluence came  together. 


ADDENDA 


239 


Note  12,  p.  109.  Even  to  this  day  the  phrase  "Our  College" 
has  by  no  means  died  out.  True,  in  the  course  of  time,  two 
others  of  our  order  have  appeared.  First,  Tabor  College,  in 
the  extreme  southwestern  corner  of  the  state — an  offshoot  of 
Oberlin — and  doing  good  work  in  Western  Iowa  and  parts  ad- 
jacent of  Nebraska  and  Missouri.  Next,  of  later  date,  to  the 
far  ea^t  in  Muscatine  County,  came  Wilton  College,  doing  a 
like  good  work  for  our  German  youths,  many  having  the  minis- 
try in  view,  in  behalf  of  their  countrymen.  To  these  we  all  bid 
a  hearty  Godspeed.  Still,  remembering  how  early  it  was 
started;  how  it  drew  to  itself  the  sympathy  and  support  of  the 
early  churches  as  they  began  to  multiply;  how  it  has  grown 
with  their  growth,  standing  somewhat  central  among  them; 
mindful,  too,  of  the  fact  that  when  aided  by  the  College  So- 
ciety the  understanding  was  that  the  united  forces  should  be 
concentrated  upon  the  one  college,  and  not  divided  among 
many;  it  seems  to  the  majority  of  the  churches  now  but  natu- 
ral and  reasonable  to  speak  of  Iowa  College  as  "Our  College," 
handed  down  as  an  inheritance  from  the  past,  as  a  sacred  trust 
to  be  acknowledged  and  cared  for.  There  is  something  also 
of  the  same  feeling  toward  the  old  Denmark  Academy,  which 
was  started  before  the  College,  and  for  a  while  was  as  much  of 
a  college  as  the  Collegeitself. 

Note  13,  p.  11 1.  It  may  be  of  interest  to  know  how  this 
came  about.  While  the  early  steps  were  being  taken,  not  en- 
tirely free  from  fear  lest  they  might  prove  premature,  the  en- 
couraging fact  became  known  (and  what  helped  to  turn  the 
scale)  that  some  one  had  deposited  money  with  the  Home 
Missionary  treasurer  at  New  York,  for  the  benefit  of  some  edu- 
cational institution  in  a  new  Western  state,  said  money  to  be 
paid  at  his  order.  By  inquiries  made  the  name  and  residence 
of  that  person  was  found.  A  letter  sent  to  Mr.  Carter  through 
Dr.  Badger  (who  heartily  endorsed  it),  setting  forth  purpose 
and  plans  for  a  college  in  Iowa,  brought  back  a  response  of 
interest  expressed  and  a  check  enclosed  of  one  hundred  dollars. 
with  some  intimations  of  more.  The  correspondence  which 
naturally  ensued  resulted  in  his  donation,  which,  considering 
the  time  and  circumstances,  was  one  of  the  largest  the  College 
has  ever  received.  In  his  letters  (some  of  which,  by  the  wav 
are  in  that  alcove  before  alluded  to)  he  frenuently  speaks  of 
''Our  Infant  College."  showing  its  nlace  of  adoption  in  his 
heart,  over  which  he  was  watching  with  a  sort  of  parental  care. 


240  ADDENDA 


Note  14,  p.  in.  Those  professors  were:  Rev.  Erastus  Rip- 
ley Carter,  Professor  of  Ancient  Languages ;  Rev.  H.  L.  Bul- 
len.  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy ;  D.  S. 
Sheldon,  M.A.,  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Natural  Science; 
Rev.  D.  Lane,  M.A.,  Professor  of  Mental  and  Moral  Philoso- 
phy. 

Note  15,  p.  151.  The  initials  in  this  fragment  cannot  all  be 
given.  Some  of  them  have  passed  from  the  memory  of  its 
writer  even.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  Bro.  T.,  stands  for 
Brother  Nutting,  then  pastor  of  our  once  flourishing  church 
at  Bradford,  Chickasaw  County;  C,  is  for  Chapin  where  the 
esteemed  Brother  Avery  was  .laboring;  F.,  for  Franklin  County. 
The  River  S.,  was  probably  a  swollen  tributary  of  the  Cedar. 

Note  16,  p.  213.  During  Brother  Spaulding's  ministry  at 
Ottumwa,  one  of  his  parishioners  presented  him  with  a  silver- 
headed  ebony  cane.  In  his  last  sickness  he  gave  it  to  Brother 
Lane,  expressing  the  wish  that  after  him  it  might  go  to  the 
next  oldest  of  the  Band  that  should  be  living,  and  so  on  to  the 
end.    The  succession  of  the  cane  has  been  as  follows : 

March  31,  1867  from  Spaulding  to  Lane. 

April  3,  1890  from  Lane  to  H.  Adams. 

September  23,  1896  from  H.  Adams  to  A.  B.  Robbins. 

December  23,  1896  from  Robbins  to  E.  Adams. 

Note  17,  p.  213.  This  was  June  12,  1893,  by  the  falling  of  a 
tree  across  the  carriage  in  which  she  and  her  husband  with 
two  lady  friends  were  riding  in  the  Burlington  cemetery.  She 
was  killed  instantly.  Her  husband,  regarded  at  first  as  fatally 
injured,  recovered.    The  two  lady  friends  escaped  unhurt. 


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